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The brief discusses the number and value of indirect benefits of American Apprenticeship Initiative (AAI) registered apprenticeship programs to participating employers. Supporters of apprenticeship, including state and local workforce agencies, can use these findings from the AAI evaluation to promote adoption of apprenticeship by employers. Direct benefits estimates were based on employers’ reports of a reference apprentice’s increased productivity. Indirect benefits were employers’ reported values relative to the value of the reference apprentice’s increased productivity. An employer could report that the indirect benefit was 50, 100, 150, or 200 percent as valuable as the increase in the value of the apprentice’s productivity.

Key Takeaways

• Nearly all (99 percent) surveyed employers reported experiencing one or more indirect benefits.
• Most (84 percent) rated at least one of the indirect benefits as at least as valuable as the increases in apprentice’s productivity.
• Nearly all employers (96 percent) cited improved company culture as a benefit. More than 90 percent of employers reported their apprenticeship programs led to improvements in their talent pipelines and increased employee loyalty.
• More than a quarter (28 percent) of employers reported experiencing all 10 indirect benefits the survey asked about. Almost all (94 percent) experienced at least five indirect benefits.
• There are two ways to report the indirect benefits to employers of apprentices. Unweighted median indirect benefits show the per-apprentice indirect benefits for the typical employer. The median employer had $25,045 in indirect benefits per apprentice. Alternatively, when indirect benefits are weighted by the size of the apprenticeship program, they show the per-apprentice indirect benefit associated with the typical apprentice. The median apprentice provides $958 in indirect benefits to their employer, after weighting by size of the apprenticeship program.
• Improved company culture had the highest median value of all indirect benefits ($3,329 per apprentice for the median employer), or $2,080 for the median apprentice, after weighting by the size of the apprenticeship program.
• Employers participating in advanced manufacturing apprenticeship programs had the highest estimated indirect benefits.
• Employers with between 100 and 500 full-time-equivalent employees had higher indirect benefits per apprentice than did employers with fewer than 100 or more than 500 employees.
• Group joint apprenticeship programs (those that include multiple employers and are sponsored by a joint labor-management organization) had the highest median indirect benefits of any apprenticeship program type.

Citation

Marotta, J., Lerman, R., Kuehn, D., San Miguel, M. (2022). Abt Associates. Beyond Productivity: How Employers Gain More from Apprenticeship: Findings from the American Apprenticeship Initiative Evaluation. Chief Evaluation Office, U.S. Department of Labor.

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This study was sponsored by the Employment and Training Administration, Office of Policy Development and Research, Division of Research and Evaluation, and was produced outside of CEO’s standard research development process.