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The report provides background on youth apprenticeship programs in the U.S. to provide context for finalizing the design of the implementation evaluation of the Youth Apprenticeship Readiness Grants (YARG). The report also summarizes the planned activities of the 14 grantees and the key features of each grantee’s youth apprenticeship model and discusses key issues to include in the implementation evaluation.

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Key Takeaways

• Youth apprentices are already relatively common in the registered apprenticeship system, comprising between 30 to 40 percent of all registered apprentices in any given year, although a much smaller share of apprentices are 16 to 18 years old between 1996 and 2021.
• Most (96.5 percent in 2021) youth apprentices are registered in programs that serve both adults and youth rather than youth apprenticeship programs that exclusively serve youth.
• YARG grantees are working with a variety of different partners, including required education and training, employer, industry, as well as other optional partners. Grantees planning to include smaller numbers of apprentices tend to have fewer partnerships in place and will handle most services and activities themselves. The smallest YARG grantees expect to serve 200 apprentices.

Citation

Payne, P., Kuehn, D., Trutko, J., Trutko, A. (2023). Urban Institute. Youth Apprenticeship in the United States: 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.