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Apprenticeship programs could soon expand in the United States, opening up more pathways for young people to earn while they learn.
A bipartisan group led by Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, is backing legislation that would add one million new apprenticeships over the next five years.
“We’re expanding the occupations that you can be an apprentice for — not just the building trades but also things like finance or health care,” he told education reporters in a briefing last week.
The bill passed the House last year but stalled in the Senate. With Democrats now leading the Senate, its prospects look bright.
“I look forward to once again passing this legislation through the House and I hope will Senate act quickly to get this bill on the president’s desk,” Scott said in a statement Jan. 25. This is part of the effort to help workers get back on their feet in a time of high unemployment and to rebuild the economy, he said.
The National Apprenticeship Act of 2021 encourages employers in high-demand industries to offer apprenticeships. It would provide $400 million in the first year (and up to $3.5 billion over five years) to create a grant program for registered apprenticeships, youth apprenticeships and preapprenticeship programs.
It’s intended to widen the diversity of apprentices as well as the types of jobs represented, especially high-skill high-wage jobs.
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The goal, Scott said, is to “end up with a highly skilled worker that can make a highly skilled paycheck.”
Although both previous administrations supported expansion of apprenticeships, currently only 0.3% of the U.S. workforce has done an apprenticeship, according to a 2018 report by the Task Force on Apprenticeship Expansion.
But local efforts show an attempt to broaden this kind of career pathway for young people. For example, Northcentral Technical College in Wausau, Wisconsin, has just begun a program for medical assistants who would be employed in medical offices while taking courses. In Colorado, an apprenticeship in early childhood education, offered through Red Rocks Community College in Lakewood, employs students in child care centers.
Apprenticeships are structured programs in which participants learn a craft while working in it. Registered apprenticeships are certified by the U.S. Department of Labor or a state agency.
According to the U.S. Department. of Labor, 94% of people get a job upon completion of a registered apprenticeship program and the average pay is $70,000. Earlier efforts to expand apprenticeships included President Donald Trump’s creation of the Task Force on Apprenticeship Expansion in 2017 and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), signed by President Barack Obama in 2014.
The National Apprenticeship Act of 2021 provides a plan for states to set up and run federally funded programs and calls for the Labor Department to diversify and expand apprenticeships in conjunction with industry leaders, educational institutions and others. In addition to Scott, the bill is sponsored by Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.), Donald Norcross (D-N.J.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), David McKinley (R-W.Va.) and Don Bacon (R-Neb.).
