The Master Builders Association has blamed a 2013 decision by the Fair Work Ombudsman to increase adult apprentice wages to 80 per cent as the reason why employers are reluctant to hire.

“Unfortunately the situation is simple,” MBA executive director Michael Kerschbaum said.

The Fair Work Ombudsman increased adult apprentice wages to 80 per cent in 2013.

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“This means that if an employer earns $1000 a week, he has to give his adult apprentice $800,” Mr Kerschbaum said.

Prior to that, the average hourly rate for an adult apprentice, or an apprentice who starts his training at age 21 or above, was about 38 per cent, Mr Kerschbaum said.

The Examiner has launched a campaign to investigate the role of the vocational education and training sector in a bid to understand why apprentice shortages are occurring.

The Pick up the Tools campaign aims to secure the future of TasTAFE and the wider VET sector.

In addition, the federal government also withdrew incentive support for employers looking to hire adult apprentices.

In 2015, the federal government stopped the Support for Adult Australian Apprentices scheme.

The scheme provided a payment directly to the adult apprentice.

A spokesman for the federal government said other support initiatives were available to employers.

“The government continues to provide a $4000 one-off bonus payment to eligible employers of Australian apprentices aged 25 years and over.”

The federal government also offers trade support loans of up to $20,420, to help apprentices with the cost of learning and living while undertaking their training.

However, it is unclear if the support loans are available to adult apprentices.

Mr Kerschbaum said while some incentives were available, it was simply not enough to outweigh the costs of employing an adult apprentice.

He said the state government had also provided some incentive, such as the extension of the payroll tax relief program, but the burden should not be on the state.

“It is not their problem to solve, as they didn’t create it,” he said.

The Tasmanian Government has a policy to increase apprenticeship numbers but does not have a specific policy addressing adult apprentices.

It has also pledged to assist public vocational education provider TasTAFE, by guaranteeing it 70 per cent of the training budget.