AAI: Challenges and Opportunities for Expanding Registered Apprenticeship with WIOA

This brief, a Level 2 resource, is part of the U.S. Department of Labor’s funded evaluation of AAI and is based on site visits and follow-up clarification calls to six AAI grantees that constituted seven State or local Workforce Development Boards (WDBs). The evaluation team talked primarily with staff in management and leadership positions, although some agencies invited direct-service staff, such as career counselors and business services staff, to join the conversation.

These AAI grantees reported that local WDBs and AJCs are still relatively new to promoting apprenticeship to employers and job seekers. Eighty percent of AAI grantees reported they promoted and conducted outreach to employers as part of their apprenticeship development activities (Gardiner et al. 2021). The six workforce agency grantees described in this brief reported they funded staff dedicated to engaging employers. DOL expected grantees to continue funding apprenticeship activities post AAI with other sources, including WIOA Title I funds. Because workforce agency grantees are familiar with WIOA and the range of services Title I supports, the study team asked six workforce agency grantees—who visited as part of the implementation study for the AAI Evaluation—if and how they planned to continue apprenticeship activities with WIOA Title I funds. AAI grantees expressed an interest in continuing to support registered apprenticeships but identified several challenges to using WIOA Title I funds to do so.

(This resource is 15 pages in length.)

(The study began in 2017 and was published in 2022.)

The researchers identified the following findings:

• American Job Center (AJC) business services staff do not have the deep understanding of registered apprenticeship necessary to “sell” employers on this workforce development strategy.
• AJC staff who work with job seekers lack a comprehensive understanding of registered apprenticeship.
• Because local WDBs have limited WIOA Title I funding for training services, apprenticeships compete for funds with other, often shorter and less expensive training.
• Grantees reported that funding registered apprenticeships is complicated by the multi-year nature of its training and the paperwork required from employers.
• AAI grantees reported that their AJCs generally prioritize unemployed and recently dislocated workers, whereas most AAI apprentices were incumbent workers, suggesting many employers prefer to use apprenticeship to train incumbent workers.

The researchers proposed the following recommendations:

• Provide training opportunities for AJC business services staff and career counselors on the fundamentals of registered apprenticeship.
• Promote the positive returns of apprenticeship to prospective employers and apprentices.
• Promote how registered apprenticeships can contribute towards AJCs’ achievement of WIOA performance accountability measures.

Key measures include:

1. Employment: Registered apprentices are employed and earn a wage from their first day as apprentices.
2. Credential attainment: Registered apprentice completers receive a national, industry-recognized credential from DOL’s Office of Apprenticeship or a federally recognized State Apprenticeship Agency.
3. Measurable skills gains: The combination of related technical instruction and on-the-job learning aim to lead to progressive increases in skill levels.

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2022
• Author(s): Gardiner, K.; Paulen, L.; Copson, E.; Kat, B.
• Funding Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Justin Venneri
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies