The time has come again for National Apprenticeship Week (NAW). Ten years in the making, NAW is the week-long recognition of the necessity for and value of apprenticeship in America, by partners and providers alike. Taking the time to nationally celebrate apprenticeship just makes sense. Apprenticeships are invaluable earn-and-learn tools with the potential to better build the American workforce pipeline.
Apprenticeship is a win-win for everyone. It can improve and increase access to quality jobs for the working class, with the potential to expand the middle class for those historically left behind in the American economy. It is also a way for individuals to get paid while they earn a living. For employers, the apprenticeship model also provides more tangible opportunities to readily source the talent they need to fill critical job shortages and remain competitive in the marketplace.
This year’s celebratory theme is “10 Years of Engagement, Expansion, and Innovation”. Though policymakers have tried to take work-based learning more seriously in recent years, the fruits of their labors pale in comparison to America’s international peers, like Great Britain, Germany, and Australia. Our country still sits around 600,000 registered apprentices. What’s more, these apprentices are mostly nestled in their traditional homes of the building trades and heavy industry, while our international peers have roughly 10 times more opportunities in their marketplaces.
The past 10 years of apprenticeship upscaling efforts have been scant. By not prioritizing funding and scaling this earn-and-learn model, we are undermining the working class’s ability to access important career opportunities and pathways to quality jobs, alike. If the 2024 election results send one major message to policymakers, it is the need to focus on creating viable working opportunities for those who feel like they are being left behind in our global economy. Apprenticeship does just that.
PPI calls for a more serious national commitment to scaling the apprenticeship model as we look toward the next 10 years. In the spirit of continuing with this year’s NAW theme of engagement, expansion, and innovation, PPI highlights three policy proposals to best usher in a new decade of apprenticeship in our country.
The first is cross-sector engagement. Engagement across different sectors of the economy is vital to an effective scaling apprenticeship in America. By more diligently bringing together nonprofit organizations, the private sector, and the public sector to engage more in the apprenticeship scaling process and by recruiting intermediaries (who play a key role), we can launch apprenticeship into more industries across the economy to provide more opportunities to the working class.
The second is expanding the number of apprentices in the U.S. PPI believes that the U.S. needs to expand the number of our nation’s apprentices roughly tenfold. Most Americans do not have a four-year degree, and the four-year college model is falling out of style due to the bloated price tag, low completion rates, and the weighty debt burden that often follows it. A recent PPI poll, which surveyed ~5,000 workers without four-year degrees, definitively reflected this public sentiment, citing that 74% of workers believe that public investment in apprenticeship and other career pathways that help individuals acquire better skills is the most likely way to help workers get ahead in today’s economy.
Finally, PPI encourages innovative policy proposals brought forth by cross-industry partners to look at ways to best reduce barriers to entry for employers and increase the number of apprentices in the U.S. Another recent PPI report, “Strengthening America’s Workforce: The Path to 4 Million Apprenticeships”, offers a refreshed perspective on Apprenticeship for America’s pay-per-apprenticeship proposal. In this proposal, one million apprenticeships a year are created via increasing federal investment, tying funding to performance, shifting from lottery-style grants to formula funding, and for all types of intermediaries to better sell employers on apprenticeship and assist them as they are in the organizational stages of programs.
Slight shifts towards making America an apprentice nation over the past 10 years may have left the marketplace wanting, but there is no reason to dwell on the past when there are viable policy solutions aimed at effectively scaling the U.S. apprenticeship model. Ditching ineffectual and unpopular policies — like “college for all” and student loan forgiveness — that distract from policy proposals with the actual ability to expand the middle class is critical. With this sort of pragmatic and diligent prioritization in apprenticeship, the U.S. can follow in the footsteps of the great apprentice nations, increasing economic competitiveness. If we deliver on this, we can usher in a new decade of apprenticeship that will truly be worth celebrating.
