Industry overview
Retail Trade involves the purchase and 
onselling, the commission-based buying, and the commission-based selling of goods, without significant transformation, to the general public.
- Retail Trade provided $18.5 billion to Victoria's output in 2013-14, representing 6 per cent of the total.
- The sector employs approximately 323,000 people, with a growth of 10 per cent over the past five years, with the largest growth in the Other Store-Based Retailing sub-sector.
Industry training
- Retail Trade related courses accounted for 9,934 government subsidised enrolments in 2014. TAFE fee-for-service provision in the sector had around 1,623 enrolments.
- Apprenticeships grew by 12 per cent between 2009 and 2014, to 2,124 government subsidised enrolments.
- Traineeships decreased by 79 per cent between 2009 and 2014, to 2,806 government subsidised enrolments.
- In 2014, 25 per cent of government subsidised enrolments related to specialised or in shortage occupations.
- There were 134 training providers delivering government subsidised training related to the Retail Trade sector in 2014. TAFEs provided 27 per cent of government subsidised enrolments in 2014. Private Registered Training Organisations' (RTOs) share of government subsidised vocational training was 66 per cent of all enrolments in 2014.
The largest number of course enrolments by occupation include:
Main training packages
Occupations with skills in demand
We anticipate that the following occupations will have good employment prospects in the near future as they are experiencing shortages, are already a large occupation group or are anticipating strong growth from 2014-19.
Occupations with shortages
Largest employing occupations:
In 2014, the top five employing occupations in the Retail Trade industry accounted for nearly 60 per cent of all employment within the industry. They are:
Occupations anticipating strongest growth (2014 to 2019):
Over the next five years (2014-2019), the following occupations are forecasted to have the strongest growth:
Skills and training market publications
Training market intelligence
Vocational training enrolments summary
For all industry comparisons refer to:
Links
For more information on training market trends see: Victorian Training Market Quarterly Reports
For more information on occupations, courses and the Victorian Training Guarantee, see: Victorian Skills Gateway
Key contacts
Retail Trade resides within Portfolio B. Key contacts for Portfolio B can be found at: Industry Skills Portfolio Teams.