Registered Apprenticeship Evidence

Evaluation of the American Apprenticeship Initiative (AAI)

ETA launched the American Apprenticeship Initiative (AAI) in October 2015 and provided five-year grants to 46 grantees across the country to expand registered apprenticeship into new sectors, such as healthcare and information technology (IT), and to populations historically underrepresented in apprenticeships, such as women, racial and ethnic minorities, and veterans. Some AAI grantees received no-cost extensions of their periods of performance through September 2021.

In April 2016, ETA, in collaboration with DOL’s Chief Evaluation Office (CEO), commissioned an evaluation of the AAI grant program to build evidence about the effectiveness of registered apprenticeship for apprentices and employers. The evaluation included four sub-studies (an implementation study to document AAI grantee activities; an outcomes study to document in-program and post-program outcomes for AAI apprentices and pre-apprentices; an employer return-on-investment (ROI) study to document the costs to employers and benefits of registered apprenticeship programs; and a pilot test of a strategy to encourage employers to adopt registered apprenticeship to assess the implementation and outcomes of a consultative sales approach to employer recruitment by two AAI grantees). Three reports comprised the implementation sub-study.

In addition to the sub-study reports, the AAI Evaluation included five topical issue briefs.

Across the AAI sub-studies and briefs, analyses of key data sources included reviews of grantee applications and documents; site visits with grantees, employers and other grantee partners; surveys with grantees, employers, and apprentice participants; apprenticeship data reported to DOL; quarterly wage records; and publicly available data.

Final Reports – AAI Evaluation

• Expanding Apprenticeship to New Sectors and Populations: The Experiences and Outcomes of Apprentices in the American Apprenticeship Initiative
• Achieving Apprenticeship Program and Apprentice Registration Targets: Grantee Outcomes from the American Apprenticeship Initiative
• Implementing Registered Apprenticeship Programs: Experiences of 10 American Apprenticeship Initiative Grantees
• Expanding Registered Apprenticeship in the United States: Description of American Apprenticeship Initiative Grantees and Their Programs
• Do Employers Earn Positive Returns to Investments in Apprenticeship? Evidence from Registered Programs under the American Apprenticeship Initiative
• Engaging Employers to Register Apprenticeship Programs: Outcomes from the American Apprenticeship Initiative Employer Engagement Demonstration

Issue Briefs – AAI Evaluation

• Expanding Registered Apprenticeship Opportunities to Underrepresented Populations: Findings from the American Apprenticeship Initiative Evaluation (Issue Brief)
• Challenges and Opportunities for Expanding Registered Apprenticeship with Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Title I: Findings from the American Apprenticeship Initiative Evaluation (Issue Brief)
• Beyond Productivity: How Employers Gain More from Apprenticeship: Findings from the American Apprenticeship Initiative Evaluation (Issue Brief)
• Did Apprentices Achieve Faster Earnings Growth Than Comparable Workers? Findings from the American Apprenticeship Initiative Evaluation (Issue Brief)
• What Are the Costs of Generating Apprenticeships? Findings from the American Apprenticeship Initiative Evaluation (Issue Brief)

Infographics - Select Study Findings Summarized

Background on the AAI grant program and evaluation (and context for the infographics below):

• Overview of AAI Underrepresented Populations Findings
• Overview of AAI Apprentice Findings
• Overview of AAI Pre-Apprentice Findings
• Overview of AAI Employer Findings

National Apprenticeship Week 2022 Events – AAI Evaluation

Other Resources for Information – Grants and Evaluations

For additional information on registered apprenticeship, please visit: APPRENTICESHIPUSA.

• For information specific to the AAI grant program, visit https://www.apprenticeship.gov/investments-tax-credits-and-tuition-support/past-grants-and-contracts.
• For lessons learned and promising practices identified during technical assistance (TA) provided to the grantees participating in the AAI grant program, see the report titled, Registered Apprenticeship Reimagined: Lessons Learned from the American Apprenticeship Initiative, available on https://www.apprenticeship.gov/evaluation-american-apprenticeship-initiative-aai.
• The ETA press release (https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/eta/eta20150909) and archived Federal Opportunity Announcement (https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/grants/2015) are also available.

Research and evaluation reports (commissioned by ETA and CEO) on registered apprenticeship and other workforce development initiatives are available via a search on the ETA PUBLICATION DATABASE.

Resources for research evidence and programmatic technical assistance on registered apprenticeship and other workforce development initiatives also are available on the ETA-sponsored WORKFORCE GPS’s Evaluation and Research Hub and Workforce System Strategies.

For completed reports and other materials on evaluations of programs and policies that impact the American workforce, please visit the CHIEF EVALUATION OFFICE (CEO). CEO works with agencies across the U.S. Department of Labor to conduct research on a variety of labor-related topics.

• AAI deliverables
• Also visit CEO’s CLEAR (Clearinghouse for Labor Evaluation and Research) for other completed studies on registered apprenticeship and work-based training.