The budget includes $2.8 billion to support apprenticeships. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said it would provide $5000 payments to new apprentices and "up to $15,000 in wage subsidies for employers who take them on."

The budget also lays the foundations for national skills reform with a $3.7 billion investment, supporting 800,000 new training places.

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The announcements come as the economy is recovering from the pandemic and environmental disasters.

VERTO CEO Ron Maxwell said it was an important time to focus on apprenticeships.

"You've got to take into account over the last few years we've had a series of floods and bushfires. They are still recovering down in Batemans Bay after the fires ... and then you look at what's happening in Lismore and they're flooding again. There is a rebuilding phase that has got to go on there," he said.

"They were struggling to get adequate numbers of tradespeople in Batemans Bay, now they're going to have a similar problem in Lismore. It's going to take a while to rebuild, so the more apprentices in those hard trades, the better, and it's a part of the economic recovery that's really important."

He said the items in the budget would ideally provide an incentive for more people to consider a trade, but also for employers to bring on and retain more apprentices.

"It's okay to bring them on, but we've got to get them through to completion because they're our next small business owners. That's the succession plan for our current ones," Mr Maxwell said.

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