Parents, students and politicians -- in both parties -- like the idea of paid on-the job-training, writes Hechinger's Jon Marcus. But employers aren't creating many apprenticeships.
"Only one in four adults now says having a four-year degree is extremely or very important to get a good job," he writes. Nearly two-thirds of 14- to 18-year-olds say their ideal educations would involve learning skills on the job.
But it's expensive to train and pay novices, employers say. Furthermore, federal and state regulations for "registered apprenticeships" are complex tangles of red tape.
Employers find the apprenticeship system "confusing and cumbersome," says Jobs for the Future. The nonprofit and other critics persuaded the U.S. Labor Department to withdraw hundreds of pages of new rules that threatened to make things worse.
The first Trump administration created "industry-recognized" apprenticeships, which were run by employer groups, with less government oversight, writes Marcus. The Biden administration canceled the program. Odds are they'll be back.
Advocates hope for more government subsidies for apprenticeships. "Many states already offer employers tax credits for apprenticeships of from $1,000 per year, per apprentice in South Carolina to up to $7,500, in Connecticut," writes Marcus.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who just announced a new master plan for career education, pledged to add 500,000 apprenticeships by 2028, but is struggling to meet those goals, reports Adam Echelman for CalMatters. So far, the state has registered 180,000 apprentices.
Firefighting is the most successful program. Local fire departments and unions set the terms for apprentice pay -- $40 an hour! -- and training. The state subsidizes the costs.
Michaela Levell is taking a paramedics course for free to qualify for firefighter training. She earned a bachelor's degree in social work, running up $50,000 in debt, before becoming an EMT.
Among the innovation trends to watch for 2025 is how colleges adapt to the need to prepare students for the labor market, writes Julia Freeland Fisher of the Christensen Institute.
Employers will use AI for basic tasks instead of training and mentoring inexperienced workers, she predicts.
"Even with fierce advocates and a clear need, 'earn and learn' hasn’t scaled, and demand for internships far outpaces supply," Fisher writes. Colleges will need to change to integrate work with learning, and third-party providers such as Colabl, Backrs, Codeplay, Mentors in Tech will have to build the ‘middleware’ between schools and employers."
If colleges are involved, all is lost. The schools are the ones who created this problem. And they are not skilled or even have a clue how to provide real learning rather than just pass the test incentives.
The real problem is that DOL apprenticeship regulations require that the "apprentices" be paid more than the other unskilled workers. That is entirely backwards as an unskilled worker not being provided with training should be paid for the work they do, but apprentices are also being "paid" with training.
This was understood…