Job Training & Apprenticeships

Most policy makers agree that workforce training is essential to America’s competitiveness. Job training is especially important for workers without a college education, for whom it is often the key to a better job or any job at all.

Apprenticeship and other models that integrate classroom and workplace learning are more effective than years of classroom education followed by work without structured support for learning. But apprenticeships remain infrequently used in the United States—a reality that hasn’t changed despite three decades of policymakers’ professed affection for the model.

Publications

Publication

Oregon’s semiconductor incentives package should focus on people and place

In creating a package of incentives to attract chip manufacturers, the Oregon legislature should prioritize investments that will deepen the state’s talent pool, promote equity, and strengthen its infrastructure. The drive to create an incentive package stems from the congressional enactment of the CHIPS Act, which pledges tens of billions of dollars to ramp up domestic semiconductor manufacturing. Understandably, Oregon lawmakers are eager to see some of that money flow to Oregon. In putting together a package to attract chip manufacturers intent on applying for the federal funds, lawmakers should resist calls for direct corporate subsidies, which are often ineffective. At the very least, any new corporate subsidy should come with guardrails to limit the risk to Oregon.

Publication

Equity in Apprenticeship: Equity from the Frontline: Workers’ Insight and Leadership Supports a Network of Apprenticeships in Transit

  • August 17, 2018
  • COWS
  • Michele Mackey, Laura Dresser, and Mariah Young-Jones.

Equity in Apprenticeship is a report series from COWS at UW-Madison. It highlights programs that use apprenticeship to extend occupational opportunity to historically marginalized groups, especially people of color and women.

In California, the Joint Workforce Investment in the South Bay Valley Transportation Authority has developed a web of apprenticeships and advancement opportunities.

Equity in Apprenticeship was funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. We are grateful for their generous support. The findings and conclusions presented in this series are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Publication

Equity in Apprenticeship: Manufacturing Pathways in Milwaukee: Bringing Skills and Equity to Manufacturing’s Future

  • August 17, 2018
  • COWS
  • Laura Dresser, and Walker Kahn.

Equity in Apprenticeship is a report series from COWS at UW-Madison. It highlights programs that use apprenticeship to extend occupational opportunity to historically marginalized groups, especially people of color and women.

The Industrial Manufacturing Technician (IMT) program is the product of collaboration between labor and management leaders in Milwaukee’s manufacturing sector and has created a new rung in the ladder in production jobs.

Equity in Apprenticeship was funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. We are grateful for their generous support. The findings and conclusions presented in this series are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Equity in Apprenticeship: Health Care Pathways in LA: New Apprenticeship Opportunities as an Industry Changes

  • August 17, 2018
  • COWS
  • Michele Mackey, Laura Dresser, and Mariah Young-Jones.

Equity in Apprenticeship is a report series from COWS at UW-Madison. It highlights programs that use apprenticeship to extend occupational opportunity to historically marginalized groups, especially people of color and women.

The Worker Education and Resource Center (WERC) in Los Angeles has become highly adept at preparing health care workers who share a cultural affinity with LA’s patient populations.

Equity in Apprenticeship was funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. We are grateful for their generous support. The findings and conclusions presented in this series are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Annie E. Casey Foundation.