Apprenticeship in the United States : Patterns of Governance and Recent Developments

The share of US workers who undertake apprenticeship training is small compared to most other OECD countries and compared to the number of workers who undertake postsecondary education. However, the scale of the US apprenticeship is large compared with the training funded through the federal Workforce Investment Act. Historically, US apprenticeship programs have been highly concentrated in construction, manufacturing, and other selected fields, including public safety and some military occupations. In recent years, however, the Office of Apprenticeship of the US Department of Labor has funded efforts to establish apprenticeships outside these traditional sectors, in such occupation-industry clusters as nursing, information technology, geospatial, advanced manufacturing, and maritime occupations. This paper describes aspects of the governance of the registered apprenticeship system in the US, examines recent initiatives from the Office of Apprenticeship to expand apprenticeship, and analyzes new evidence about how apprenticeship sponsors view the system.