Registered apprenticeships were again in the workforce development spotlight on Tuesday as U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh pitched the Biden administration’s budget plan to House appropriators.
The hearing before the House subcommittee that oversees funding for education and job training programs was particularly collegial, with members from both sides of the aisle giving kudos to Walsh for his work at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). Even the slightly more contentious topics discussed — such as Republicans’ push to offer alternative apprenticeship models — were cordial.
“We have seen these programs flourish in recent years under multiple administrations,” Rep. Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma) said of apprenticeships, in general. “I think apprenticeships represent an opportunity and a pathway to high-paying jobs, many of which do not require a college degree.”
But the ranking member said he was disappointed about the administration’s lack of support for alternatives to registered apprenticeships, such as the now-defunct industry-recognized apprenticeship programs, or IRAPs.
“I hear from businesses regularly about the limiting structure of and cumbersome model of registered apprenticeships,” Cole said in his opening statement. “The model was not was built for the economy and opportunities of today, and it’s not doing enough to support today’s worker.”
Registered apprenticeships are underused in many industries, especially in the growing sectors of cybersecurity, information technology and supply chain logistics, Cole said.
“I think the administration should do more to support intermediaries in this area and alternatives to registered apprenticeships to bring opportunities to these aggressively growing businesses and to American workers,” he said.
Closing on IRAPs
Walsh’s most direct rebuke of IRAPs came when Rep. Ben Cline (R-Virginia) asked why the administration doesn’t support them.
“We don’t need a disconnected, duplicative program that does nothing but cause confusion. That’s what the IRAPs do,” Walsh said.
The secretary said it’s not a matter of supporting only union-based apprenticeships. He said there are many registered apprenticeships that are not affiliated with unions. Apprenticeships that are industry-driven are the ones that succeed, he added.
Walsh said the same holds true for all workforce development programs. He agreed with Cline’s criticism that some federally funded job training programs, such as Job Corps, are not as successful as they could be, but there is only so much that DOL can do because of parameters created by Congress. Walsh reiterated that it’s up to employers to create the types of training programs they need, and the federal government will invest in them.
Outreach and awareness
Walsh said the department continues to look to expand registered apprenticeships into more industries. A key to doing that is raising awareness about the benefits of apprenticeships, which provide a solid pathway to good-paying jobs at minimal cost to the learner, he said. He cited as an example DOL’s recent 90-Day Trucking Apprenticeship Challenge to get more trained drivers for the trucking industry. The partnership between the Trucking Alliance and DOL to expand registered apprenticeships include increases in outreach to underrepresented communities, such as veterans, women, people with disabilities and people of color.
More than 250 organizations have engaged with the trucking initiative, and more than 70 employers have committed to developing and joining existing programs or have already launched new registered apprenticeship programs, according to the department. DOL is also encouraging trucking companies that have apprenticeships to scale them in order to improve retention.
More than 100 employers, including Domino’s, Frito-Lay and UPS have launched registered apprenticeship programs in 90 days as DOL cut the amount of time it takes to launch a program from months to as little as 48 hours. This could result in more than 10,000 additional apprentices, according to the department.
Including equity
Lawmakers asked Walsh how DOL will infuse more equity into apprenticeships and all workforce development programs, particularly in industries that traditionally have a low number of workers from underrepresented populations. The secretary said one strategy is to introduce families and students to apprenticeships through pre-apprenticeship programs. He cited his building and trades pre-apprenticeship efforts as mayor of Boston specifically to reach underrepresented populations.
Walsh also noted that inmates who soon will be released are another population ripe for industries to tap. Providing inmates with education and training prepares them for entry-level jobs and helps to reduce recidivism, he said.
Addressing childcare
The hearing addressed a wide variety of issues, a number of which affect community college students, such as childcare. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Washington) noted that the area she represents in Washington state saw its childcare capacity drop 25% during the pandemic, noting that the sector already faced a shortage of workers before Covid.
Creating a pathway for those jobs is critical to help parents get back into the workforce to fuel the economy, she said.
Walsh agreed and noted that one challenge is that many childcare workers leave these traditionally lower-paying jobs to continue their careers in teaching. But it’s a problem that has to be addressed.
“If we don’t do something as a country about childcare, we are going to do severe damage to our economy,” he said.
