The government will pay half the wage of an apprentice or trainee for one year in an attempt to create jobs for those who are leaving school at the end of 2020, and opportunities for the newly retrenched.

Federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg estimated the stimulus, which will be in place for a year, will deliver 100,000 jobs at a cost of $1.2 billion.

Each job would be subsidised at an average of $12,000.

Mr Banks currently employs two apprentices and is considering taking on another at the end of the year.

He estimated a first-year apprentice costs him about $31,000 for the year, and the year-long government subsidy would save him about $300 a week.

"There are probably people who are a bit hesitant at the moment about how it's all going to end up," he said.

"If you get a subsidy like that it might make your decision easier to put someone on."

Mr Banks pointed to a chronic shortfall in builders, with thousands more people leaving the industry each year than enter it.

"It's really important that people keep training apprentices, otherwise there will be no-one to build houses.

"People are retiring because they're sick of it, their bodies are buggered.

"There are a lot of blokes in their 50s who have just had enough of all the red tape, the paperwork, the safety compliance - they're thinking, 'stuff this, why should I worry about all this, I'll work in the mines'. But that's not much of a lifestyle."

Phil Lambert from Phil Lambert's Kitchen and Joinery said the subsidy would have no impact on his business.

"I was thinking about putting an apprentice on," he said.

"For me, it was something I was going to do anyway; it would probably sway some people, but not us."

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