About the Environmental Scan

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The environmental scan sets the stage for a series of briefs that will be published under the State Apprenticeship Systems Capacity Assessment study. The study will conduct a deep dive into state-level Registered Apprenticeship systems in the United States, exploring how the public sector and its partners are supporting and implementing Registered Apprenticeship programs, including the use of more inclusive and equitable strategies and models. The scan involved a review of available apprenticeship data, as well as literature and insights from recent studies (conducted within the past four years). In 2023, additional information on these topics was collected through interviews with key staff and partners from a subset of states to deepen understanding of state apprenticeship system capacity.

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Key Takeaways

• The S. Department of Labor (DOL) has invested millions of dollars in apprenticeships. Since 2016, DOL has invested more than $960 million in apprenticeship systems and programs through grants and contracts. DOL also oversees and funds state activities under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), and WIOA was reported to be the most common source of financial support for states’ Registered Apprenticeship efforts among the SAE grantees, including funding for individual training accounts and on-the-job learning.
• Employer engagement is a major challenge for state apprenticeship systems. States that received federal State Apprenticeship Expansion grants implemented a variety of approaches to directly engage employers to help address the challenge; these approaches include hosting convenings to bolster recruitment, providing one-on-one interaction with employers to facilitate program development and increase buy-in, and focusing efforts on directly addressing employer misconceptions through outreach.
• The racial and gender diversity of apprentices did not increase between 2015 and 2019. Although the high percentage of missing data in RAPIDS complicates an analysis of racial diversity (including many participants’ refusal to identify their race), the racial and gender diversity of apprentices has not changed a great deal nationally from 2015 to 2019, based on the data available.
• The share of youth apprentices among registered apprentices did not change between 2015 and 2019. Despite continued investment in youth apprenticeship programs, the percentage of youth apprentices in the 2019 RAPIDS data was consistent with the percentage in the 2015 RAPIDS data (36 percent), though the number of youth apprentices did increase by more than 50,000 in that time.
• States are expanding apprenticeships to meet the needs of rural areas and communities impacted by the opioid crisis. Data indicate that some states focused apprenticeship expansion in rural areas on increasing the supply of health care workers, as well as closing skill gaps in the healthcare industry. In addition to a focus on rural areas, states have also sought ways to address the opioid crisis through economic policies, such as the use of federal and state grants to establish targeted apprenticeship programs, including those for community health workers, as well as the use of Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselors.
• Financial incentives to offset the employer costs associated with apprenticeship were reported to be more widely available in SAA states than in OA states. Fifty percent of SAA states reported the availability of tax credits or other tax savings, compared to only 23 percent of OA states. Similarly, 18 percent of SAA states reported the availability of local wage subsidies, compared to only 4 percent of OA states.

Citation

Harrington, A., Ruggiero, R., Sattar, S., Eyster, L. (2022). Mathematica. Understanding the Capacity of State Apprenticeship Systems: Apprenticeship Evidence-Building Portfolio. Chief Evaluation Office, U.S. Department of Labor.

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The Department of Labor’s (DOL) Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) sponsors independent evaluations and research, primarily conducted by external, third-party contractors in accordance with the Department of Labor Evaluation Policy and CEO’s research development process.