“Workforce Rewired: Modern Apprenticeships for a Modern Economy”
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House Education and Workforce Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development U.S. House of Representatives
Follow its sittingsAlma Adams
Last year, President Trump issued an executive order directing the Labor Department to deliver a plan to reach and surpass one million new active apprentices. Subcommittee Democrats and I welcome partnership, bipartisan support for registered apprenticeships, but rhetoric should match reality. And with this administration and congressional Republicans, what they say and what they do are hardly ever the same. In early 2025, Elon Musk's DOGE made a huge mess and spurred an exodus of staff at the Labor Department, likely including some of the same folks who would have worked on the president's apprenticeship executive order. The Trump administration needlessly paused or canceled millions of dollars in grants for apprenticeship programs and research.
A North Carolina-based nonprofit that offers pre-apprenticeship training to women and underemployed demographics had its grant canceled, as did Reach University, whose president, Mr. Ross, is testifying today. The Trump administration's recent budgets proposed consolidating workforce development programs, and House Republicans' recent spending bill only includes a slight increase for apprenticeships. This is not a blueprint to reach one million apprentices. The Trump administration issued guidance loosening requirements that could water down quality standards in the apprenticeship program. And last month, Congresswoman Bonamici and I spearheaded a letter to the acting Labor Secretary expressing concerns about this guidance, and I ask unanimous consent, Mr. Chairman, to enter our letter into the record.
And finally, Mr. Chairman, some Republicans who claim to love registered apprenticeships are the same folks who never miss a chance to attack the labor movement, which is a key driver and funder of registered apprenticeships. That does not make much sense. And so the subcommittee Democrats and I believe that we shouldn't just increase the number of apprenticeships to one million, we should be increasing the number by one million. And that's why we have supported billions, not millions, in new funding to increase access to registered apprenticeships, youth apprenticeships, and pre-apprenticeships. And this is why we continue to stand with the labor movement, which continues to do so much important work and innovation in this policy area, among others.
I look forward to today's discussion, and I yield back the balance of my time, Mr. Chairman.
Burgess Owens
Thank you. Pursuant to Committee Rule 8C, all members who wish to insert written statements into the record may do so by submitting them to the committee clerk electronically in Microsoft Word format by 5:00 PM, 14 days after this hearing. And without objection, the hearing will remain open for 14 days to allow statements and other material noted during the hearings to be submitted for the official hearing record. I would now like to introduce the four distinguished witnesses we have. First witness is Ms. Jamie Angel, Senior Director of Apprenticeships and Traditional Programs at Caliber Collision in Morris, Colorado.
Second witness is Mr. Joe Ross, President of Reach University in Columbus, Ohio. Our third witness is Mr. John Ladd, Senior Advisor in the Center for Apprenticeship and Work-Based Learning at Jobs for the Future in Washington, DC. And our fourth witness is Ms. Natasha Sherwood, Director of Chapter and Workforce Development for the Independent Electrical Contractors in Tampa, Florida.
Thank you so much. Uh, I want to thank the witnesses for being here today, and we look forward to your testimonies. Pursuant to committee rules, I'll ask that each of you limit your oral presentation to a three-minute summary of your written statement. The clock will count down for three minutes as committee members have many questions for you. However, pursuant to committee rule 8D, the committee practice will not cut off your testimony until you reach the five-minute mark.
I'd also like to remind the witnesses to be aware of your responsibilities to provide accurate information to the subcommittee. I'd first like to recognize Ms. Angel for your testimony.
Jamie Angel
Chairman Owens, Ranking Member Adams, and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Jamie Angel, and I am the Senior Director of Apprenticeships and Transitional Programs at Caliber Collision, the nation's largest collision repair company. In my day-to-day role, I oversee Caliber's industry-leading Technician Apprentice Program, we lovingly call TAP, supporting between 800 and 1,800 apprentices at any given time and our journeyworker teammates who mentor them. In 2023, Caliber's first apprentice graduated from TAP, which is a registered apprenticeship program. That milestone marked the beginning of what has become one of the largest and most impactful workforce pipelines in the collision repair industry.
I grew up in a household where collision repair was a part of everyday life. My parents owned their own shop and later both went on to teach auto collision at a local vocational school, which meant in my household, if you didn't know what an inner rocker reinforcement was, you might not get to talk at the dinner table. This upbringing showed me how beneficial careers in skilled trades could be. My own career started at the front desk of a small family-owned multi-shop operator while I worked my way through college. I didn't just stay at the desk.
I spent time in detail, parts, production, estimating, and operations, eventually running a body shop at just 24 years old. My journey is proof of the power of expanding pathways to the skilled trades. Today, I carry with me the knowledge of what it's like to work on the shop floor as I seek to build sustainable technician pipelines and expand career pathways into the collision repair industry. My experiences have shaped my perspective. In this industry, opportunity is created when people are given a chance to learn, to work hard, and to grow.
And that's why the technician shortage we face today is so important to me personally. Our industry needs skilled professionals at a pace our traditional pipelines are just not meeting. I cannot speak to the broader economic impact of apprenticeship programs, but I can speak to the remarkable impact of Caliber's TAP program on the economy. A Texas Workforce Commission study conducted with Lightcast analyzed Caliber's TAP program and found very remarkable returns. Over a career, an apprentice generates just over $500,000 in additional lifetime earnings compared to what they would have earned without completing our program.
And society as a whole, the gain is more than $3.2 million across each apprentice's working life. By the end of 2024, TAP had served almost 1,000 apprentices in Texas alone, supporting $22.1 million in added income and nearly 300 jobs across the state. It is important to emphasize this is just Texas. Nationally, Caliber has already graduated approximately 3,000 apprentices and has another 800 to 1,800 in training at any given time across 41 states.
A pathway to prosperity not just for the apprentices, but for their families, local communities, and the American economy as a whole. That's why apprenticeship programs are so critical. They provide structured training, mentorship, and a clear path to sustainable, meaningful career. They allow individuals to earn while they learn, develop real skills, and build long-term opportunities without taking on debt. But more importantly, they change lives, not just for the apprentices, their families and communities in which they live.
We have countless success stories about how our apprentices' lives were changed that we'd love to share, and this is why programs like TAP work. TAP takes people, many with no prior experience, and combines technical training with mentorship and real-world experience for a clear path to certification. It's competency-based, typically completed in 12 to 18 months. Our apprentices are paid day one, they receive benefits day one, and they're given tools early in the program, and they graduate debt-free. The model works.
But one company or one industry cannot solve this alone. By granting flexibility to program sponsors, providing financial incentives, and investing in the pipeline, we can build a stronger workforce across not just collision, but all skilled trades. Thank you again for your time and your commitment to strengthening our workforce development.
Joe Ross
Chairman Owens, Ranking Member Adams, and members of the subcommittee, my name is Joe Ross, and it is an honor to appear on behalf of Reach University, the nation's first accredited university to focus entirely on turning jobs into degrees. Our North Star is upward mobility, and our model is the apprenticeship degree. I come before you today the son of a postal service custodian disabled in an accident. My mother passed when I was four, and when I was adopted, a judge told me that I would have a new last name. And I must have thought, you can do that?
What else about the the the hand you're dealt can you just change? Well, I went on to college, the Navy, and now I have the privilege of serving as the inaugural president of Reach University. And what led us to found Reach six years ago was this very idea, that a person, no matter their circumstance, should be able, with opportunity and hard work, to change their own destiny. My message today is that higher education should and can change itself, reinvent itself, by embracing the workplace as a learning place, just like apprenticeship. Now, every year, millions of Americans turn down the promise of a degree because they need to work.
Many go to work in the very same schools and hospitals where employers can't fill the higher-paying roles that require post-secondary credentials. Workforce shortages and untapped talent sit side by side, often in the same building. But what if nobody had to choose between a job and a degree? What if instead you could turn your job into a degree? That is what the apprenticeship degree does, and here are the ABCs of the model.
A is affordability. That means no student loans. No learner at Reach pays more than $75 out of pocket per month. B is based in the workplace. An apprenticeship degree starts with a paid job and is designed to end with a better paid job.
And C is credit for work. About half the learning is on the job, and the other half in the evening or weekend seminars. Reach now serves 3,400 working adults across 10 states, 65% of them are Pell-eligible, with a 68% on-time graduation rate and an 84% immediate job placement rate. Take Nicole Menard of St. Mary's Parish, Louisiana. As a widowed mother earning $20,000 a year, college felt unattainable.
She worked full-time as a special education aide. But then with Reach, she was able to turn that job into her degree. And today she is a math and science teacher, earning more than double the salary and serving the community that invested in her. The apprenticeship degree is built for the 50 million working adults like Nicole, who shouldn't have to leave their job or their community or go into debt to get ahead. Now, we don't intend to scale this all by ourselves.
Through our National Center for the Apprenticeship Degree, which is known as NCAD, we share the model with peers across nearly 20 states. And as my colleagues say, that's what's called R and D, as in rip off and duplicate. So together, by making the American workplace the American learning place, we can address critical workforce shortages and we can revitalize the American dream. Thank you very much.
John Ladd
Good morning, Chairman, Ranking Member, and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today on the topic of modern apprenticeships for a modern economy. My name is John Ladd and I serve as senior advisor at Jobs for the Future's Center for Apprenticeship and Work-Based Learning. Before joining JFF, I served as administrator of the US Department of Labor's Office of Apprenticeship across four administrations, both Republican and Democrat. JFF believes strongly in the power of apprenticeship and work-based learning, having created the center almost 10 years ago and has played several roles in the effort to expand registered apprenticeships, including serving as an intermediary, grantee, technical assistance provider, and most recently as a sponsor of a registered apprenticeship program.
Over the past decade, JFF has helped develop or expand apprenticeship efforts in 40 states, engaged more than 3300 employers and sponsors, and supported more than 14,000 apprentices. JFF has a long history of partnering with DOL on a range of initiatives that support apprenticeship and workforce development, and we look forward to many more opportunities for continued collaboration. My message today is that apprenticeship works and efforts to date to scale have been remarkably successful. But to move apprenticeship forward, we must develop a consensus-based strategy and framework for a modern apprenticeship system. Registered apprenticeship has benefited from strong bipartisan support and the United States has made real progress, with the system having doubled since 2014, which coincides with the advent of federal funding.
Registered apprenticeship now produces more than 300,000 new apprentices annually, making it the largest training delivery system overseen by ETA, with meaningful expansion into sectors far beyond construction. However, growth has slowed in recent years and without deliberate action, the country is not on track to meet the President's goal of 1 million active apprentices by 2030, let alone generate the far larger number of apprenticeship opportunities our economy will ultimately need. In my view, there are three critical steps to modernizing apprenticeships. First, we need clearer roles across the national apprenticeship system.
Second, registered apprenticeship should be the centerpiece of a connected pathway system that bridges education and work. That means linking career exploration, pre-apprenticeship, youth apprenticeship, degree apprenticeship and career advancement into clear pathways with no dead ends. Third, the country needs a long-term national growth and innovation strategy. We have made real progress, but we have also seen repeated cycles of momentum and disruption. Too much instability makes it harder for employers, industry partners, states and intermediaries to continue to invest in what works.
That is why we need a strategy that is bipartisan, durable across administrations and built for the long term. It should include an immediate plan to reach 1 million apprentices, a longer vision for reaching an even greater number of apprentices, more transparency around federal investment priorities, stronger employer outreach and room for state and industry-led innovation. This leads to my final point. Congress should reauthorize the National Apprenticeship Act. This act created an important foundation in 1937, but it was written for a very different economy.
Today, apprenticeship needs a modern framework built for faster skill change, broader industry adoption and national scale. Reauthorization is the clearest path to durable modernization and should do several things. Authorize long-term funding commensurate with goals, provide meaningful employer incentives across industries, define the apprenticeship ecosystem and the roles within it more clearly, support core pathway models including pre-apprenticeship, youth apprenticeship and degree apprenticeship, strengthen governance at the federal and state levels, modernize data and performance and accountability systems, and lastly address long-standing tensions in the system in ways that preserve quality while allowing innovation. In this 250th anniversary year, Congress has a chance to do something both important and fitting. Apprenticeship helped shape early American opportunity and it can help shape our future as well.
Congress can strengthen apprenticeships for the next generation by building a more connected, innovative and scalable apprenticeship system. Thank you.
Natasha Sherwood
Thank you. And last I'd like to recognize Ms. Sherwood for your testimony.
Good morning Chairman Owens, Ranking Member Adams and members of the subcommittee. My name is Natasha Sherwood. I serve as the workforce development director for the Independent Electrical Contractors, a national association representing 54 chapters, 4,200 contractors and 22,000 apprentices. If we're going to rewire the workforce, we first need enough people to wire America. We need 80,000 new electricians every year to build and power the data centers, manufacturing plants, schools and infrastructure that keeps us competitive.
To meet that challenge, IEC is scaling apprenticeship through group sponsorship while combining tradition with modern tools and innovative approaches. At IEC a modern apprenticeship isn't defined by technology alone. It's defined by expanding opportunity, removing barriers and helping more people succeed without lowering standards. Because behind every apprenticeship statistic is a person. For us, that person is Jaden.
Jaden came to us through IEC's pre-apprenticeship program in the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, where he learned through online instruction, live teaching and hands-on assessments. When his instructor told me he was being released, I made one phone call to an IEC contractor. I explained he had a record but he'd completed our IEC program and they hired him immediately.
And just last month, another first: he completed his first year of apprenticeship with a 91% average. Jaden didn't succeed because of one program or one technology. He succeeded because IEC innovated at every step of the journey. Because a modern economy requires a modern apprenticeship system, and that's one that meets people where they are and prepares them for where the economy is going. And it starts with reimagining where talent comes from.
We're building multiple on-ramps into the apprenticeship through school programs, adult boot camps, military transition pathways, and community partnerships that help us reach people traditional systems often miss. Reaching those individuals requires us to think differently, and that's where technology offers solutions. We're using AI tutoring that scaffolds learning for struggling readers and translates curriculum into more than 200 languages. Synchronous, asynchronous, and hybrid instruction that removes barriers of time and geography, and virtual reality that helps apprentices learn complex skills cheaper, faster, and safer. But a modern apprenticeship isn't built on technology alone; it's built on partnerships.
IEC apprentices earn 57 college credits while completing the apprenticeship, proving workforce and education are stronger when they work together. We're partnering across workforce ecosystems, working with the DOL, collaborating with workforce boards, nonprofits, and educational institutions to extend apprenticeship opportunities. We're removing barriers to success through wrap-around services like transportation assistance, hand tools, and academic tutoring when life gets in the way. But our greatest innovation isn't technology; it's our group sponsorship model. Group sponsorship allows employers, especially small businesses, to participate in apprenticeship without having to build or run an entire program on their own.
IEC provides the curriculum, reporting, instructors, compliance, and best practices, which allows the contractors to focus on training the next generation of electricians. That makes apprenticeship more accessible, scalable, and sustainable. And no amount of technology will replace experience. Apprentices still master their trade the way they always have: by learning from skilled professionals while earning a paycheck on the job. Before I close, I'd like to come back to Jaden.
Today we're going to talk about AI, virtual reality, online learning, and modern workforce systems, and those tools absolutely matter. But they aren't the story. The real story is Jaden. Technology didn't change Jaden's life; people did. Technology simply helped us find him sooner, train him better, remove barriers that stood in his way, and help him succeed.
Today Jaden is the product of a modern apprenticeship for a modern economy. He is a skilled electrician, a taxpayer, a young man with a career, future, and purpose, and thousands of apprentices like him represent the workforce America needs. Because America's future will be built by skilled men and women like Jaden, who install the conduit, pull the wire, and keep the lights on. When education meets opportunity, lives change, and when government, education, and industry work together, those opportunities multiply. IEC stands ready to help America build the workforce our economy needs today and in the future.
My written testimony contains six suggestions for you to consider. I thank you, and I look forward to your questions and, more importantly, to working with you to find and help the next Jaden in each of your districts.
Burgess Owens
Thank you. Thank you so much for that. Under committee rule nine, we'll now question the witnesses under five-minute rule. I will recognize myself for five minutes. Ms. Angel, as if an 18-year-old asked you tomorrow whether they should take a $30,000 student debt to pursue traditional higher education or enter the apprenticeship where they're earning a paycheck on day one, what factors would you tell them to consider?
Jamie Angel
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's funny you ask. I have an 18-year-old daughter who just graduated high school. We've had these conversations over the last year between her, her boyfriend, her friends.
Every time we've had the discussion, they've chosen different paths based on the factors in which we discussed. What kind of work do you enjoy? Do you like working with your hands, analyzing, writing, researching? What kind of career do you want? What do you want your day-to-day look like?
Not what degree do you want, what area do you want to study. What do you want to look forward to in the future? What do you want to expect on a day-to-day? Of course, there's financial implications, and they need to discover that and determine whether or not that's the right path for them. But I also encourage them to think about how do they learn best.
Are they somebody that is a hands-on, real-world learner? Are they somebody that enjoys classroom instruction? What is the demand for their career? Are employers hiring? Are there a shortage of workers in that field?
What are the growth opportunities, right? At the end of the day, I always tell that I told my daughter and all of her friends, don't choose college or a trade because of prestige or what you think you know. Choose the best path that aligns with your interests, your strengths, your financial goals, your desired lifestyle. A skilled trades apprenticeship can lead to a very highly successful career. College can also be an excellent investment.
The mistake is when you choose a plan without knowing what you want.
Burgess Owens
Thank you. Mr. Ross, for years we've heard employers say we need skills. We've heard universities say we provide degrees. Your model seems to suggest that doesn't have to be separate, separate things. Are we headed toward a future where work experience itself becomes a primary source of academic credit?
And if so, what still needs to be done to recognize and realize that future?
Joe Ross
Well, it is indeed a both-and proposition. As Under Secretary Nicholas Kent recently put it, credit for work, I was the one who didn't do it, turn on my microphone. I knew it would be me. So, as I was saying, it is a both-and proposition. And as Under Secretary Nicholas Kent recently put it, credit for work looks like converting paid, mentored work experience into recognized academic progress.
And that enables learners to get relevant on-the-job experience from day one. Credit for work is also rigorous because the workplace is where learners can put theories to the test, connect theory with practice. They can demonstrate their skills. They can apply their skills. It's where they can engage in sense-making.
And it's important because it means that working adults don't have to choose between the paycheck they need now and the degree or the credential that could get them ahead. What's going to make it more of a reality, I think that as we see new models emerge, we're going to need to see the accreditors embrace alternative ways of obtaining true academic credit that still keeps higher education higher but is relevant to near-term job skills as well as long-term human flourishing.
Burgess Owens
Thank you. Thank you so much. Ms. Sherwood, you've worked in education workforce development for much of your career. What's the biggest misconception parents and students still have about careers in the skilled trades? I'm sorry, Ms. Sherwood.
I'm sorry.
Natasha Sherwood
It's okay. Thank you, Congressman. I think there's several misconceptions, but perhaps the biggest is that apprenticeship is only for those who can't get into college.
As a former teacher and principal, and I often joke I'm a college-for-all addict recovering, I didn't really understand apprenticeship. And looking back, that makes me sad because I realize sometimes I didn't give all the opportunities. I think we have to look at apprenticeship to be celebrated just as enthusiastically as those going to college. I have four kids, two in college, and we posted that all over social media. When my third, who wants to go into apprenticeship, makes that decision, I want to post that and have the exact same celebration and the number of likes that pop up.
I think there's also a few other ones, that apprenticeship is only for skilled trades. As we're discussing today, that's not the case. We're going into healthcare and IT and education. I think it's also the misconception that apprenticeship is a quick fix. It's hard work, it takes involvement, it takes investment, and it's not a shortcut.
And I think the other one and last is apprenticeship is not the end of learning, it's really the beginning. IEC focuses on the continued education after that, and apprenticeship gets to the journeyman, but at that point they have so many opportunities, whether it's into estimating or project managing, they want to be a BIM specialist or own their own company. I think the biggest misconception there is that it stops. And I think we have to realize that apprenticeship is just the first step in an on-ramp of a great career.
Speaker 9
Thank you, thank you so much. And I'd like to recognize ranking member for her purpose of questioning the witnesses.
Alma Adams
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And Mr. Ross, thank you for being here. I understand that Reach University had millions of dollars in grants cancelled by the Trump administration for its teachers college, is that correct? Just give me a yes or no, sir.
Yes, ma'am.
Joe Ross
Okay. So could you tell us briefly what those funds were going to support and who they were serving?
And we understand that with a new administration comes new priorities. Well, all the work we do supports working adults in communities across the country in turning their job into a degree. Building a new enterprise, a new social enterprise, has its ups and downs, but we're pleased to see that there are some new grant competitions that have been released and they are prioritizing apprenticeship and work-based learning and degree-connected apprenticeship. And my team calls me the consummate optimist, but I do think that's good.
Speaker 10
Okay, I want to move on. So what were the grants, what were they going to support and who were they serving?
Joe Ross
Well, they were supporting folks working in workplaces, para-educators. We were able to continue that work and...
Alma Adams
Okay, let me, I've got several more questions. So do you think that the cancelling by the Trump administration grants such as yours and the one in North Carolina that I mentioned in my opening statements advances what seems to be a bipartisan goal of increasing the number of apprentices nationwide? And a yes or no would do on that answer as well.
Joe Ross
Well, I think the rise of apprenticeship is being supported in a bipartisan way. And that's evidenced by governors and the administration and everybody here in this room. Everyone talks about the bipartisan support for this work, so we're optimistic.
Alma Adams
Thank you, sir. Let me go to Mr. Lade. Thank you for being here, Mr. Lade. In your testimony, your testimony predicts that we will fall short of one million apprentices by the end of the decade without deliberate intervention. So would you elaborate on that?
And do you think that the Trump administration cancelling grants for apprenticeship programs and apprenticeship research puts our country closer to one million apprenticeships or further away from that goal?
John Ladd
Thank you very much. Yes, so we've done some looking at the rate of growth over the past few years and on our current path we are not on a trajectory to reach one million apprentices. And this is something the administration is very aware of and is open to ideas. My larger point in my testimony is that we have gone through a series of cycles of disruption and then momentum and progress.
Speaker 11
So sir, let me just reclaim my time because I have a few more things and we're almost at the end of my time. So is that going to put us closer to one million apprenticeships, do you think, or is it going to take us further away from the goal?
Alma Adams
Okay. So, do you think that the current House administration spending bill, which provides only $5 million increase for the Office of Apprenticeships, brings our country closer to 1 million apprentices or further away from that goal?
Speaker 12
No, again, we are not at the level of funding that we need to reach the goal.
Alma Adams
Okay. As I mentioned earlier in my opening statement, Congresswoman Bonamici and I have written to the Department of Labor regarding recent sub-regulatory guidance on registered apprenticeships that weakens safeguards and creates opportunities for abuse. We haven't heard back from them. So, Mr. Ladt, I'm concerned that under this guidance, the elimination of minimum time requirements for apprenticeships given advanced standing might create a situation in which employers can convert pre-existing employee training programs into apprenticeships, and these phantom apprenticeship programs could only allow existing employees eligible for advanced standing to apply. So, do you think that this is a fair concern, and are there any other ways that you see these circulars could lead to abuse?
John Ladd
I think it is a fair concern. The guidance does put a lot of the onus on the registration agencies, whether that's the Department of Labor or the state apprenticeship agencies, to kind of hold the line on that. This is another example of that tension in the system that I mentioned earlier between we want to promote both quality and standards while also leaving room for innovation, and we tend to go to extremes of either one rather than recognizing that we need both.
Alma Adams
Let me get this last point in. We are working here to ensure that underrepresented groups can access apprenticeship programs. What do you think the historically black colleges and universities' role can be, and do you see a role for degree-connected apprenticeships? Got six seconds, sir.
John Ladd
Absolutely, yes. We work very closely with HBCUs and other minority-serving institutions. They can serve as sponsors and intermediaries in a broad range of roles.
Tim Walberg
Thank you. Now I'd like to recognize my friend from Michigan, the chairman of the full committee, Mr. Walberg.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thanks for this, this hearing today, this panel. I think the pendulum has swung. It's swung too far the wrong direction for one-size-fits-all higher education, four-year institutions, etc. Apprenticeships grew this country. That's what started everything that made this country really what it was.
And now we're swinging back. And I notice in the medical field we even have apprenticeship opportunities there. It's called a practice, and it's working. And it still frustrates me to hear some of my friends on the other side of the aisle talk about a really politics of division and scarcity, as if Republicans didn't want apprenticeship programs because we are only for a one-size-fits-all. We aren't.
We need apprenticeship programs across the board. The healthcare problem we have in this country isn't the Republican problem, as was tried to be filtered to us this morning. It's the Affordable Care Act. It's the Democrat proposal. We're talking about a plan that works for the masses in apprenticeships.
So thank you for the panel that's here today.
Ms. Angel, I remember my days as a detail person at a body shop, Pontiac Chevy body shop, and smelling that wonderful fragrance of limited Bondo as these artists put back together vehicles in a way that the owners could be proud again of their vehicle. We hear of a technician shortage. What is what does that shortage actually mean for everyday Americans?
Jamie Angel
Thank you so much for your time detailing cars. It's hard work and much appreciated. You know, I like to say it's just math, right? Based on the number of technicians in the workforce today, the retirement rate based on the average age of technicians and the industry entry rate, the accident rate doesn't add up. TechForce recently published an article showing a gap in supply versus demand of 58% over the next five years.
What that means to Americans is when the supply is less than the demand, shops have to compete for a limited number of people, which drives labor rates high, which can add to repair costs, which means carriers pay more, which means rates go up. This can impact the economy as a whole. If we can't get cars fixed timely and back on the road safely, consumers will pay more for the repair as well as more rental, which affects what people pay out of pocket.
Tim Walberg
Yeah, it can also be huge frustration to the consumer. So to get it done right and efficient way is so important. Thanks for the work you do. Mr. Ross, it's it's as a Michigander, it's a delight to finally hear of a quality education institution coming from Columbus, Ohio. Turning jobs into degrees.
If colleges across America adopted the model, what would look fundamentally different about higher education 10 years from now?
Joe Ross
Well, for starters, Mr. Chairman, higher microphone. There I go again. For starters, higher education would look a lot like more would look a lot like apprenticeship along the lines of the ABCs that I that I discussed. Affordable without student debt, based in workplaces across the country, and conferring credit for work. Another thing that would look different is the faculty model would look different.
At Reach, our degree candidates are job-embedded, and so are much of our faculty. So colleagues are classmates and experienced colleagues are your professors. But they're not the kind of professor that just that professes. They mentor and they engage in in in learning through conversation. And because of all that, it it offers this this double benefit in terms of outcomes.
Near-term job skills and the long-term human flourishing that higher education was supposed to have delivered.
Tim Walberg
Yeah, thank you. Ms. Sherwood, it shouldn't be a shock, speaking of electricity, that the new technologies that are out there increasing electrification and changing workforce needs are there. How's your organization modifying training programs to prepare apprenticeships for those emerging demands?
Natasha Sherwood
Absolutely. Technology's helping us, thank you for the question, and technology is helping us scale apprenticeship without lowering the standards. And what we're doing using that for the entire journey, kind of what we talked about with Jaden. So how do we bring individuals in, so using technology to make sure they have the right fit first before we put them in the career, so they have a better retention rate? Then we're looking at digital portfolios and national competency certifications that can transfer with them.
And then in the classroom, we are working on every opportunity to break down barriers. So whether that's online learning platforms so that a single mom can work at night through a course, whether that's synchronous and asynchronous learning online or sitting in seats like we are today.
We're also installing AI tutoring into it so that it scaffolds it to lower level reading so that everybody can take part or translates it into more than 200 languages. But additionally, it doesn't leave them at that language translation, it helps them actually learn English so that they can progress in their careers along the way.
Speaker 21
A lot of common sense. My time is expired, but appreciate your testimony and all of you. Thank you. I yield back.
Thank you. I'd now like to recognize my friend from Georgia, Ms. McBath.
Lucy McBath
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you to each of our witnesses that are with us today. We appreciate you. Almost every good job today requires some sort of credential after high school. But despite that, most Americans will not go to college.
The federal government spends billions more taxpayer dollars on colleges and universities than it does on programs that working people are more likely to participate in, things like apprenticeships and other licenses and credentials. You do not have to go to college to be successful. It certainly helps, though, but it's not the only path to a good job. Our current system leaves out the people that higher education and workforce development programs are really meant for. The people who can't pay to get ahead.
People who can only climb the ladder with hard work and what God gave them, not what they may have been born into. You shouldn't have to already have money to make money in this country. But that is becoming the norm for our economy. Millions of Americans are working harder and producing more than ever before, but will never be able to afford to buy their own home, will never have the peace of mind that they've saved enough money to retire or pass anything down to the next generation of their family. Registered apprenticeships offer a path to a good career without the cost barriers that trap people into poverty.
I truly believe that when done correctly, registered apprenticeships can help fix these problems. The best way to eradicate poverty for working people is to ensure that every American can get a good job and they can keep it. Apprenticeships do just that. Apprentices, rather, get paid as they learn and don't have to take out loans that they may never be able to pay back. Congress should support states that are bringing apprenticeships into professions outside of the trades, like teaching, where the apprenticeship model makes so much more sense.
Teaching is one of the most important jobs in our society, but the cost to become one is pushing good people out of the way. Americans want the most qualified people teaching our kids, but expecting regular people to come up with tens of thousands of dollars on their own to become teachers, and this just isn't working. Teaching apprenticeships also help keep teachers in rural and low-income communities. When a student wants to become a teacher, they normally have to leave their hometown to do it. And when people leave, they are so much less likely to come back.
By letting students that want to teach in their own communities learn in their own communities, we will keep more people in places that they don't want to leave but may feel like they have to. This model also helps with teacher turnover because student teachers can see what it's really like to be in the classroom before they fully commit to that career. So many graduate students teach for a few years and find out that teaching in the classroom just isn't for them. We can help students make these decisions earlier so that they can make the best decision for them, and Congress can focus limited resources on students who will be teaching for decades instead of just a few years. Mr. Ladd, can you please discuss some of the innovative registered apprenticeship programs that are happening outside of the construction industry?
Speaker 19
And what are you seeing in education, finance, and healthcare that is particularly exciting and could also be scaled?
John Ladd
Thank you, I very much appreciate the question and I appreciate the focus on teacher apprenticeships. I think that was an incredible area of success to the point now where I believe almost every state in the country has teacher apprenticeship where that was not the case even five years ago, and has spurred a lot of the great interest in degree apprenticeships because they were able to create that pathway without eliminating the standards for becoming a teacher and embedding a teacher degree and credential as part of that pathway. You know, I believe now that innovation is becoming more the norm than the exception. You see innovation everywhere, both in the traditional construction trades as well as outside of construction. Really excited at JFF, we are for the first time sponsoring an apprenticeship program with the insurance and brokerage industry, which also is going to be a degree apprenticeship that will provide an associate's degree through Western Governors University.
And this is another great example of expanding apprenticeship into new industries, blending the model. We don't want to have to make people choose between apprenticeship or education. It's a no-dead-end pathway that is inclusive of both. If you want to stop at apprenticeship, you can stop. If you want to move on to traditional education, you have that option.
Speaker 19
Well, thank you so much. And as I've said before, you should not have to already have money to make money in the United States of America. And I yield.
Mark Alford
Thank you. I'd now like to recognize my friend from Missouri, Dr. Alford.
Thank you, Chairman Owens. I'm glad we're having this hearing today about how to unleash apprenticeship opportunities for Americans. Any serious conversation on apprenticeships, though, should include the negative impact of project labor agreements. The construction industry has by far the most apprenticeships of any other industry. So if you make construction projects artificially more difficult or more expensive, you reduce apprenticeship opportunities.
During my first term as Missouri State Senator, the number of Missourians in apprenticeships in fiscal year 2017 was just over 12,000. Missouri ranked 11th of all states for total numbers of apprentices. Pretty good, but state government-mandated PLAs on public works projects hindered Missouri from being a top state for apprenticeship. But after Governor Eric Greitens signed my bill to overturn PLA mandates, Missouri apprenticeship opportunities skyrocketed. In fiscal year 2024, we nearly doubled the number of Missourians in apprenticeships and now rank fourth nationwide, with other much larger states ranking behind us, including New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Illinois.
Ms. Sherwood, can you walk us through how union-only project labor agreements make construction projects more expensive and limit employers' ability to offer high-quality apprenticeship programs?
Natasha Sherwood
Congressman, thank you. Yes, our concern is that project labor agreements actually reduce workforce participation rather than expanding it. Many merit shop contractors invest significant time and resources in training their own apprentices. They hire them, pay their wages, provide supervision and mentorship, and absorb the productivity costs associated with that training. However, under the PLA agreements, those contractors, if they win a federal project, should they even bid on it, they may be required to obtain workers through collective bargaining hiring halls or use apprentices from another apprenticeship program rather than the ones that they've trained.
And for many contractors, this means they don't bring the apprentices and they don't get the OJT and qualifications are lower and we can't compete. We know competition lowers prices and speeds up the process.
Mark Alford
Thank you, thank you, Ms. Sherwood. Well, as you know, of course, government-registered apprenticeship programs or GRAPs are approved by either the Department of Labor's Office of Apprenticeship or by a state apprenticeship agency, which exists in 30 states. Unfortunately, state government regulators often have abused their authority and limited apprenticeship programs by delaying or refusing to register programs that are not union-affiliated. In 2023, and these numbers are startling, in 2023 California had 85 union GRAPs compared to only 23 non-union in its construction industry. By reference, in the same year, Iowa had 33 union GRAPs and 648 non-union GRAPs in its construction industry.
Ms. Sherwood, what can Congress do to ensure that all apprenticeship programs have an equal opportunity to get approved?
Natasha Sherwood
Absolutely, there's a couple of things and thank you for that question. One of which is restrictive ratio requirements keep us from being able to put enough apprentices on the jobs and PLA agreements require limit participation. Right now, for example, IEC is working to with contractors in Las Vegas. They've come together, they've formed, they want to do apprenticeship program, they have standards that are duplicative of others in Nevada, but they're not being approved because they don't not having wages that meet the other wages of the other organizations. We also have groups in Oregon and Washington that are facing needs tests.
They're saying there's not a need. We just heard we need a million apprentices and 80,000 electricians, so I think there's a need and we're facing this. What I will say on the good part of that is we've worked through...
Especially with the AI boom.
Natasha Sherwood
Yes, especially with the AI boom, data centers, all the manufacturing. I will say on the good note, working with the DOL, they've been super responsive. We've been able to reach out to them and they've helped us in trying to establish and get those apprentice programs. But obviously we can't reach a million apprentices if we can't start the apprentice programs and if we can't put them on the jobs.
Speaker 17
Amen. Lastly, Ms. Sherwood, this subcommittee strives to identify programs and strategies that are best in workforce development. Your industry has trained apprentices successfully for decades. What practices have you identified?
Natasha Sherwood
Thank you. I think there's a couple of different ones. One I think is most important to realize and it may be simple, but it's the group sponsorship model and the concept of a group coming together is what allows small businesses to be able to be in an apprenticeship. They don't have to stand it up, train them, and run it. It's sustainable.
And I think that's probably the biggest thing we can take away is using those group sponsorships.
Thank you. I yield back.
Joe Courtney
Thank you. And I'd like to recognize my friend from Connecticut, Mr. Courtney.
Thank you, Chairman Owens, and thank you to the witnesses for being here today. Again, I have the privilege of representing the congressional district that actually was the birthplace of the Fitzgerald Act, Congressman William Fitzgerald, who was a first-term congressman from eastern Connecticut. He actually entered the workforce when he was 15 years old at a foundry, worked his way up to, again, high political office. Again, as a freshman, he was able to convince the Congress unanimously to pass the Fitzgerald Act, again, his own personal testimony describing the exploitation of apprentices, again, minor children back in the day when he started out. But also his adamant insistence that we really needed to create quality standards as a national base.
The certificates, if they're not sort of adhering to a national standard, really are not transportable from one part of the country to the other. It actually liberates workers to who go through apprenticeships to be able to, again, take their trade and their families or whatever to different parts of the country. And unfortunately, that's sort of seems to be sort of the crux of the of the debate that's been going on over the last four or five years with the first Trump administration, Biden administration, and now we're back again with the Trump administration.
So, Mr. Ladd, in terms of your experience working in the Office of Apprenticeships, I mean, this issue of quality standards is not excessive government. It's really to make sure that the system actually has integrity, and maybe you could talk about that for a little bit.
John Ladd
Yeah, that's exactly right, and do appreciate the long history with Connecticut, and I hear that often from my friends in Connecticut and Wisconsin, which was also the first state in the union to register apprenticeship programs. But that's exactly right, that, you know, the one-page National Apprenticeship Act in 1937 talks about two kind of core federal roles. One is protecting the safety and welfare of apprentices, the other is working with states and industry on the furtherance of standards. And it is that idea of what makes registered apprenticeship registered apprenticeship is that you are, you have consistency across an occupation. You have a standard that is not driven by the government, but driven by industry, that says this is what someone needs to be occupationally proficient, that they're ready to do that job independently on their own, and that is the benefit of the system.
And so the debates, as you mentioned, this kind of ping-ponging back and forth, we do need to find room to ensure that we have a system that promotes quality and consistency and navigability across the system, but also that does allow for innovation and allows for other industries and other models to emerge.
Joe Courtney
Correct. And again, we're seeing innovation in Connecticut. The Hartford Insurance Group actually started an apprenticeship program, again, for IT, their IT workforce that's there. And again, they've been around for a long time. My father was an insurance guy back in the day, and, you know, they were very leery about apprenticeships, about it just sort of didn't sound right, but they have embraced it wholeheartedly and successfully.
In your testimony, you talked about the fact that, again, under the Fitzgerald Act structure, the number of apprentices has doubled from 2014 to 2026. So the notion that somehow, you know, we're suffocating the system, you know, with Fitzgerald Act, which should be reauthorized and improved, no question about it. But the fact of the matter is, and I've talked to a lot of non-union employers in my district that have gone through the apprenticeship process with the State of Connecticut Department of Labor, and they said it has not been that, you know, all the mythology about how onerous it is, in fact, was not the case. And I would just note for Ms. Sherwood, Electric Boat shipyard right now is involved in the number one priority of the US Navy, which is to recapitalize its ballistic submarine force, the Columbia-class program. A PLA agreement built an $800 million production facility on time, under budget.
And today, again, it's, you know, the first of the subs is hopefully going to be delivered in 2028. Again, every single one of those workers came to work every day as patriots, proud of the work that they were doing, with apprenticeships part of the PLA agreement. So, you know, the notion that PLAs are somehow inherently going to hinder apprenticeships, I would welcome you to come up and visit southeastern Connecticut and admire the work that's being done. And there are other projects that are happening on the waterfront at that shipyard that are PLAs to meet the nation's demand signal for our Navy fleet. And with that, I yield back.
Burgess Owens
Thank you. And I'd like to recognize my friend from Wisconsin, Ms. Grothman.
Glenn Grothman
Thank you. I think we have tremendous apprenticeship programs in Wisconsin, both union and non-union. I think it's not unusual to find programs in which people don't only don't pay tuition themselves, but programs in which they're paid to take the classes is not unusual. I think insofar as we have a problem that has to be addressed is we have to find a way to persuade and people are catching on on their own, but find a way to make sure that more people understand the most secure way for a career and the way to make the most money is to get involved in what I'll call skills-based education. And you will do better than your brother who's got a communication arts degree or psychology degree.
And somehow we got to get that out more. I mean, there are so many people who are very quickly making six figures without debt, provided they go the skills education sort of way. Now we'll start with Mr. Ross. When I was elected in Congress, I've been since being elected in Congress, I try to ensure that students are well-equipped to take advantage of apprenticeship programs. I'm very happy to see the work done in Reach University.
Can you elaborate on the industries that you're currently focused on and where you may continue to expand? And do you operate, well, go ahead.
Joe Ross
Well, thank you for the question. You know, in every county in this country, there are schools that need teachers. In almost every county, there are clinics that need nurses. And these are fields where an apprenticeship degree allows local people to rise up. And so the industries that we're seeing first are teaching, healthcare.
That's where this starts because to fill those higher-paying jobs, employers know they need to train train their people for a period of time.
Glenn Grothman
Okay, Mrs. Angel. Rather than waiting for talent to appear, Caliber's invested in building its own workforce pipeline. Why did your company decide to pursue apprenticeships as part of that strategy and what were the key lessons learned in the development of your workforce programs?
Jamie Angel
Thank you for the question. At Caliber, we've always had an apprenticeship program, just not official. Our industry was built on teaching those who came into the business. That's how I learned. That's how our chief operating officer learned, where he started out sweeping shop floors.
It's always been inherent in our business. We've just taken that a step further and worked with vocational school programs and other external partner groups as a primary source of talent to build a more robust pipeline because of the tech shortage that has grown.
Glenn Grothman
Yeah, I'll ask you guys a general question, kind of jumping off to the side here. Do you feel the problem is more we don't have enough people to get involved in these apprenticeships or is the problem more we need apprenticeship openings? You see what I'm saying? We agree we need more people on skills, but where where's the bottleneck? Not enough people want to become a skilled tradesman or we don't have enough slots for apprenticeships?
Jamie Angel
For our industry, we find that the biggest bottleneck is really incentivizing mentors to continue the scalability of the program.
We have a lot of interest in people coming into the industry in the marketplace, but it takes a mentor to be able to have an apprentice, and growing and scaling that program is costly.
Joe Ross
Well, you know, in healthcare and teaching, as I said, employers are at the table. They haven't seen shortages like this in their lifetimes, and in the very same schools where we don't have enough teachers, there's people already working there. They're working as classroom aides, in the lunchroom, as paraeducators. If only they could actually get trained, they could rise up, double their salary in some states, and become teachers.
Glenn Grothman
So you mentioned nurses. You think the problem is there are not enough slots? If I want to become a nurse, there are not enough slots?
Joe Ross
Well, nursing's interesting. One of the challenges in nursing is the practice of not paying clinical rotations, and an apprenticeship is a paid job. So a challenge is bringing together nursing board and the programmatic accreditors and the employers and higher ed and getting them to do a model that looks like an apprenticeship. It takes coordination. Some states have figured this out, like Alabama, but it's been a barrier and it's something that we need to overcome if we're going to address the nursing shortage.
Thank you. I guess I took my time.
Burgess Owens
Thank you. I'd now like to recognize my friend from Oregon, Ms. Bonamici.
Suzanne Bonamici
Thank you, Chairman, Ranking Member. Thank you so much to the witnesses. High-quality apprenticeships, we know, can create a pathway to employment, build a highly skilled workforce, level the playing field for individuals with barriers to employment. I've been a long-time supporter of the apprenticeship programs. We need more paid work-based learning opportunities to prepare the workforce for in-demand jobs, and I've been watching with interest the extension of apprenticeships to non-traditional fields.
Usually people thought, oh, that would only be in the trades, but that's expanding. But it's critical that these opportunities provide meaningful and high-quality training and skills development for participants. And in March, the Department of Labor released new guidance on registered apprenticeships. I recently led a letter with Ranking Member Adams, which she mentioned in the opening statement, to the department's acting secretary expressing concerns that the guidance will weaken the high standards for registered apprenticeship programs and fall short of providing the high-quality training opportunities workers need. So, Mr. Ladd, you served as administrator for the Employment and Training Administration's Office of Apprenticeship for 17 years.
As I mentioned, this administration is loosening standards. They removed any time-based guardrails on completing competency-based standards. And you've recommended in the past that a minimum of one year of training is important. But is it, I want to ask, is it a good idea to remove minimum time requirements for apprenticeships, which seems to put speed over skill? Is that a good idea?
John Ladd
Sorry, did it again. I appreciate the question and appreciate the concerns. The one-year minimum requirement for apprenticeship, I think, is something that is embedded throughout the process for determining which occupations can be apprenticeable. And so, I think the broader context on the guidance is that the system is still learning how to utilize these models of competency-based apprenticeship, hybrid models. And we put out guidance earlier because we felt like there were a lot of questions about how do you do this, how do you track and assess competency-based programs compared to time-based programs.
I do think we need a more structural solution to this issue, one where we recognize occupations for the occupation itself, divorced from the training approach. We shouldn't be defining occupations as time-based or competency. An electrician is an electrician. There's not a competency-based electrician.
And then how how the sponsor assesses progress through that program should be determined by by the program. But if we had if we make that determination at the beginning, I think we could avoid some of these these challenges.
Suzanne Bonamici
Thank you, I appreciate that. And and you know, the administration has this very lofty goal of adding another 1 million apprenticeships. Mr. Ladd, between November 2024 and November 2025, the department reduced its workforce by a 14%, including a loss of more than 150 staffers from from ETA. They cut millions of dollars of previously awarded grants for apprenticeship programs and research, including about $14 million to Reach University. I'm sure Mr. Ross is familiar with that.
The Trump administration's proposed fiscal year 2027 budget would cut the ETA's funding by another $3.5 billion, and that's a decrease of about 26% from 2026. So how will the decrease capacity at the Department of Labor affect the apprenticeship programs? And will this proposal for the department to there's this proposal that's there, the department should approve new applications in 30 days, which seems totally unrealistic. So what can we expect? Can they approve new high-quality apprenticeship programs within 30 days?
John Ladd
I think actually that part of the process is not the the challenge in the system. The challenge in the system is around convening employers and bringing them together to develop the training standards. The approval processes are are fairly quick, and so I don't think that is as much of an issue. But I do believe that there are capacity challenges at the federal level. And I do think, as I mentioned in my testimony, that you know, we need to have clear roles at both the federal and state level.
And there needs to be a strong federal role, including providing adequate resources to meet goals, to set policy direction, to provide technical assistance, to provide data systems and and set performance accountability systems. So there is a clear role for the federal government.
Suzanne Bonamici
Absolutely. And but that that requires the funding and the staff. And I just want to say that you know, budgets reflect our policy priorities. And this administration has their goal of reaching 1 million new apprenticeships, but their actions and their budget proposal shows that they are not serious about making that happen. Instead, it's another broken promise from this administration.
And just as a reminder, we are spending the country is spending about between $890 million and $2 billion per day on the war. That money should go to education and other things that actually help American people. And I yield back.
James Moylan
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Welcome panel, thank you for your testimonies. We could really use a lot more apprentice in Guam, especially with the large military buildup that's ongoing. Just about every skilled labor is needed on the island. It's difficult to get folks trained from the mainland coming on over just because the distance, the travel time, it's way, way, way far away from home.
So we're relying right now for this buildup a lot dealing with our H-2B workers that come from our allies in the Philippines. At the same time, we're looking at building up our apprenticeship programs. And one thing I added into as an amendment into the HR 8800, the NDAA, specifically regards the expansion of eligible education programs under the SMART Defense Education Program.
So I'm just going to read it to you and then hopefully you can tell me if this helps you folks out in taking care of some of the struggles that you're having with the apprenticeship programs. So it amends and it strikes out is pursuing an associate's degree, undergraduate degree, or advanced degree in critical skill or discipline described in sub at an accredited college or higher education. And then it inserts is pursuing an associate's, undergraduate degree, advanced degree in critical skill or discipline described at an accredited institution for higher education or career and technical education, vocational education, apprenticeship participation, or workforce credentialing program. So we added to the SMART Defense Education Program. And I'm wondering if you have do you feel this will be helpful and if so why and especially for rural folks like way out here in Guam.
Please, whoever wishes to start.
Joe Ross
I do think it's helpful because one of the barriers to expanding apprenticeship is the degree to which, if you will, higher education comes in too expensive and imposing debt. And that's something that I think Reach University has shown is not not required. I have a fond memory of visiting Guam when I was in the Navy and every part of this country should have opportunity for the people who live where they came from so they can rise up. And so I think your amendment helps support that and allows us to think of on-the-job work as counting for regular academic progress and it can be done a number of different ways. And so I think expanding opportunity is the first step.
Natasha Sherwood
I'd be happy to weigh in on that one as well. Thank you for the question and I'm not volunteering to come to Guam's electrical program but we have online, I'll be happy to get you set up with that. But additionally, through the electrical industry we talked about that there's many different outlets and one of the contractors in where I was the executive director down in Florida previously works with government and he needed a cybersecurity program because all of his electricians needed to be cybersecurity trained as well. And just actually today or yesterday our cybersecurity standards were submitted to State of Florida for approval. So that cybersecurity, an amendment like that would help him with individuals that are able to take on these cybersecurity that are now connecting with what was a traditional skilled trades but they need that to be able to build, actually I think in Guam.
Anybody else? No. Thank you, thank you panel. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Speaker 31
Thank you. Now I'd like to recognize my friend from New Jersey, Mr. Norcross.
Donald Norcross
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for holding this important hearing on apprenticeship. I'd remind everybody apprenticeship is just a method of instruction that is different. The narrative in this country that we've heard is you have to go to college to make it. We've heard that for years and I think that has impacted the mentors which are called mom and dad of where they suggest their child might go through.
I have three kids, one's a doctor, one's a lawyer, and one's an electrician. Only one of them has his house paid for, no college debt, and has a pension that we all would like. Yeah, it's the electrician. My granddaughter started her first day on the job as an electrical apprentice up in South Jersey. We understand that apprenticeships are incredibly important.
We typically look at the building trades as that core for apprenticeship. In 2017 this committee visited Germany and Switzerland to see their different models which are vastly different in the scope of what they look at it, whether it's the insurance industry, the medical, healthcare, the list goes on and on.
Speaker 35
But the idea that we in this country look at that diploma as the goal has nothing to do with it. It's your career. It's what you're instructing, what you need to do at the end of the day. And for the building trades, I think it has been proven not only cost-effective, but over time, they have perfected this year after year. I entered my apprenticeship in 1979, and I spent the first half of my life as an electrician.
I know it well. We dealt with our apprentices all over. In fact, coming out of the IBEW, which I'm so proud of, we have a 97% graduation rate. That's incredibly important when we start talking about retention. Nobody comes close to that.
Because this is one of the issues that has come up as a registered program, and I'll speak more specifically at building trades, is a registered program so important because it's about portability. Construction by its nature has peaks and valleys. They build some things over there, people have to move around. And this is a remarkable thing about a registered program, that there are standards, that if I'm an electrician growing up in South Jersey, but all of a sudden in Virginia they're building six new data centers, I can go down there and just by my graduation gives you the competency that you can go right to work, they know what they mean. If you're going to build some exquisite system in manufacturing, you can create that apprenticeship program based on that site and what goes on.
There is a huge difference when we talk about apprenticeship programs that have the consistency that you need across the board and some of the more exquisite ones that we're talking about. It does not take any approval from the federal government, let's be absolutely clear, to start an apprenticeship program. You're allowed to do it tomorrow. Any company doesn't need approval from anyone. But somehow we're saying, oh, this takes too long.
It doesn't take a long time to get electrical apprenticeship. There are thousands of programs that they can take and look at it and then tailor it for them. The idea is making sure that Department of Labor, Department of Education are there for approval and oversight. This is where it gets sticky. When we want federal government to pay for the apprenticeship program is when everything changes.
Within the building trades, they pay for it themselves. They don't come to government and say, please, give us money to train people. So going to your point that those group employer, we have the joint apprenticeship. I think they work wonderfully because you have the employer groups and the contractors working together to build this. And this is why specifically in building trades, registered programs are incredibly important because of portability.
So, Mr. Lett, talk to us about the registered programs, particularly in the building trades, and why that is important. I just mentioned electrical, electricity's the same here as it is out west, but the carpenters, everything else, why is this so important for portability?
John Ladd
I think you really set it well. The standards that are developed by industry ensures that portability. The registered apprenticeship piece means that the training, the instruction that you mentioned, has all of the required elements, not just some of the elements, it has all of the elements, and that it leads to occupational proficiency, not a narrow credential or a narrow certificate. This person is now able to fully do that job, and that's what really signifies registered apprenticeship from an unregistered apprenticeship program.
Burgess Owens
Thank you. I'd now like to recognize my friend from North Carolina, Mr. Harris.
Mark Harris
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you all on the panel for this very, very important hearing and the subject matter that we're talking about today. As has already been referenced, the Trump administration has a focus on scaling apprenticeships with the goal of reaching and surpassing one million new active apprentices as part of his executive order 14278 that was titled Preparing Americans for High-Paying Skilled Trade Jobs in the Future. And as you know, to reach this goal, the administration's taken steps to reduce administrative barriers within the registered apprenticeship system and provide additional resources to states, additional resources to territories to increase the capacity of registered apprenticeship programs and to highlight the apprenticeship opportunities during the National Apprenticeship Week. So Mr. Ross, I wanted to just come to you.
There was something you said in your written testimony that I had read prior to getting here this morning that struck me. And you discussed the fact, and I quote, workforce shortages and untapped talent sit side by side, often in the same building. So how has Reach University worked to correct that issue?
Joe Ross
Well, thank you for the question. And it is really an opportunity when you think about it. We should embrace the talent in communities so people can rise up where they come from. Lots of times they're communities where teachers come from somewhere else and nurses come from somewhere else. Well, they can also come from where you are.
One of the things we did is we made sure that our costs could be controlled. Higher ed has had 50-plus years of the assumption, living with the assumption that there's unlimited debt without underwriting. And that's, I think, created a skyrocketing cost of higher education. So we really addressed this first by making a commitment that no one would pay out of pocket more than $75 a month. And the rest would be covered by the employer workforce dollars and the like, Pell Grants as well.
Mark Harris
Well, that's huge. And the Trump administration has made a concerted effort to focus on outcomes and not simply just completion in workforce development programs. And I think that's a critically important point. And I'd like to know, Mr. Ross, can you share how the apprenticeship degree graduates compare with the traditional graduates in terms of employment and their earnings outcomes?
Joe Ross
Well, thank you for the question. At Reach University and at the other universities working with our National Center for the Apprenticeship Degree, we're seeing stronger completion rates, stronger licensure rates, and wage gains. Let me give an example. The average completion rate for someone with a associate degree when they transfer into a four-year institution is less than 25% in two years. And in these apprenticeship degree programs at Reach, it's well over 70% within two years.
And that is a very big difference because the job and the higher education and the training are all woven together. Another thing we're seeing is learners are choosing apprenticeship degree programs when they have an option. The College of New Jersey with our help at the center launched a master's degree in mental health counseling. They offered it both as a apprenticeship and also a traditional pathway. 70% of the applicants chose the apprenticeship pathway.
So we're beginning to see in the emergence of this model really solid data, and I certainly hope it grows.
Mark Harris
Well, those are definitely significant. Ms. Angel, there's a growing problem in the United States that we're facing, and that's the mismatch between the skills employers need and the preparation that many workers receive through the traditional education and training pathways. Across the country, we see that while there are millions of job openings, employers are still having difficulty recruiting workers with the skills they need to fill the positions in high-demand industries. And while we want to ensure that the local labor market needs are met with apprenticeship programs, how do your programs at Caliber Collision account for differences across all the communities that you serve?
Jamie Angel
Sure. Thank you for the question. I appreciate that. You know, we're definitely a shop-by-shop basis. For us, everything is very dependent upon the location.
Do they need an apprentice? Do they have an available mentor? We have a model set up for anyone to embrace, but it's about the people in that location. Cars are everywhere. We should be able to train anywhere and get you close to where you want to live.
We operate currently in several rural communities where there may not be access to some higher education, so it becomes even more critical in those communities that we have our own program, our own people are able to create that journey for those apprentices.
Mark Harris
And I was quite interested that in your testimony you mentioned that North Carolina was a major hub for your program. Can you just quickly discuss, and as our time's about out, the impact that hub has had in moving North Carolinians into the workforce in North Carolina?
Jamie Angel
Absolutely. We have a Changing Lanes program in North Carolina where we work with Fayetteville Technical Community College to transition military members into civilian life where every member is guaranteed job placement upon completion of a 12-week apprentice program offered at that school.
Awesome. Thank you, ma'am. Mr. Chairman, my time's out.
Thank you. I'd like to introduce my friend, Mr. Grijalva.
Raúl Grijalva
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Registered apprenticeships are the gold standard for workforce training, delivering an incredible $28 in public return for every $1 of investment. However, with national completion rates stuck below 50%, the growth recently plateauing, we must address the cycles of progress and disruption that prevent these programs from reaching their full potential. In my district, Pima Community College in Arizona reports that rigid barriers, including a reliance on temporary grants, inflexible time-based training, and restrictive one-to-one mentoring ratios, are sidelining willing employers. Mr. Ladd, as you have identified the reauthorization of the National Apprenticeship Act, along with sustained investment, stronger employer incentives, better data, and long-term national growth and innovation strategy as the clearest path to durable modernization, I'd like to direct my questions in alignment to some of those operational hurdles.
So, while federal grant opportunities have successfully launched pilot apprenticeship programs, community colleges and local employers often find that grants do not foster scalable or sustainable change once funding cycle ends. What permanent, scalable incentives, such as robust federal tax credits or streamlined operational subsidies, should Congress consider encouraging employers to permanently embed registered apprenticeships into their long-term business models?
John Ladd
I appreciate the question. You know, as you know, we are pivoting right now from a grant-based kind of approach to a pay-for-performance model that the department is moving forward on. So I think that is going to be an important experiment that we look at over the next few years to see whether larger grants to fewer entities, which I do think was necessary early on in the growth of the system. There just was not a lot of people that were ready to adopt apprenticeship, move it forward. But I think after about 10 years now, we are ready to try new approaches.
We're trying pay for performance. I think that's going to be important that we look at the results and the outcomes from that and whether that's sufficient and whether there's sufficient resources to support that to scale. And if not, maybe tax incentives are a better way to do that. But I think you have to pair both the demand driver, whether that is a tax credit or pay for performance, with really solid technical assistance. And I also want to stress the really important role that intermediaries play.
We've talked a lot about the role that labor unions have played as intermediaries, but community colleges, community-based organizations, almost any organization, JFF serves as an intermediary. And that is critical to reducing the friction in the system, making it easier for apprenticeship employers to engage in apprenticeship programs, to reach scale, and ultimately also about sustainability.
Raúl Grijalva
Yeah, I appreciate your openness to exploring and being somewhat positive about pay for performance. In education, I've not found it to be at all helpful. I think it's a disincentive in a lot of cases. And one of the things that I noticed while I was on the school board and also as a Pima County supervisor is that we rarely look at where the demands are. We just, we sort of set up these programs and then continue to fund those same programs regardless of the demand.
And that I think is where we really need to work more closely with our K-12 systems and nonprofit organizations and being able to pivot. And that's where I think our community colleges can be really helpful too.
John Ladd
Yeah, and to that point, I mean, we talk about the great impact that apprenticeship and the construction industry, that relationship that exists. But there is powerful incentives within the construction industry through Davis-Bacon to participate in apprenticeship. Those are meaningful incentives for employers to utilize apprenticeship that do not exist outside of construction. So it does show where there are incentives that work and are meaningful to the employer, the market does respond to them.
Raúl Grijalva
I have like three more questions and we can talk a lot more, but I have like 26 seconds. So with that, I'll say, you know, I appreciate the importance of us identifying the importance of this issue and apprenticeships with a hearing because I think it's really beneficial. It's going to benefit our nation, but also the fact that we can go at this in a bipartisan way to really have the greatest impact. So thank you so much and I yield.
Speaker 27
Thank you. I'd like now to recognize my friend from Virginia, Mr. Scott.
Robert Scott
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Lade, apprenticeships have been recommended because of high standards, national recognition, and an affordable path to credentials. Can you say how the Department of Labor maintains the high standards? Can you say how the Department of Labor, the registration process, guarantees the high standards?
John Ladd
So the department acts as a registration agency. So they, like state apprenticeship agencies, are responsible for ensuring that every program that is registered meets the regulatory requirements for registration, which were laid out in the 2008 regulations, which are very clear about the combination of on-the-job learning with related instruction, that there must be a progressive wage, that the credential must lead to occupational proficiency. So it's that enforcement and application of those requirements for registration is a key way that DOL, in their role as a registration agency, upholds standards. But they also play a broader role across the system through technical assistance, support, investment in electronic tools and resources to help move the entire system forward.
John Ladd
Sure. Again, it's rooted in this idea that when occupations are deemed to be apprenticeable, that the training for those occupations are aligned to a consistent standard. So it's not just the training or certificate developed by a single employer or a single entity. It's the industry that tells the department or a state apprenticeship agency, "These are the required skills for our industry." And that certificate of completion then certifies that that individual is proficient in all of those competencies, and that is now a portable credential that can be recognized across the country, across the industry.
Speaker 26
And we've heard how it's affordable because you earn while you learn, you end up with no debt. So it's obviously accessible. Traditionally, apprenticeships are found in the building trades. Are there other job categories where you could expand the apprenticeship model, like healthcare, finance, or technology?
John Ladd
Yes. Every industry could benefit from greater utilization of apprenticeship. And we have seen really tremendous growth. It's really in just the last two or three years, actually, the number of apprentices in occupations outside of construction is larger than the number of those in construction. So we have reached this tipping point where there's actually more apprentices outside of construction.
But that is spread out over many industries. Construction is still by far the number one industry employing apprentices across the country. And we're seeing growth in every industry, from manufacturing to IT to finance to healthcare and others. And I believe that the apprenticeship model can be utilized in every industry for almost every occupation.
Speaker 26
Thank you. And can you say a word about the importance of access to registered apprenticeships for youth and other challenged populations, such as those involved in the criminal justice system?
John Ladd
Sure. You know, as I mentioned earlier in my testimony, we believe it's really important to think about how these different program models fit together and that they can create pathways that can bring an individual from pre-apprenticeship through youth apprenticeship into an apprenticeship or a degree apprenticeship. And they really should not be seen as fracturing or splintering the system into these different models, but that they fit together as a cohesive whole and can provide access for women, underrepresented populations, and others that may be underrepresented in the current apprenticeship system.
Speaker 38
And you mentioned accountability as an important part of reauthorization. What measures should we look to if we're going to hold people accountable?
John Ladd
Thank you for that question. There is currently only one measure that is required through the current regulations, and that is completion rates. And that is basically a system measure.
Entered employment, retention, and wages are measures that we've adopted at the federal level because we've used those across most other federal employment and training programs, but they are not established in the regulations or in the law. So the key measures of wages, entered employment, retention, and credential attainment at a minimum are some of the measures Congress should look at.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Speaker 37
Thank you. I want to thank our witnesses once again, and we will now move to our closing remarks. I'd like to recognize Dr. Adams for her closing remarks.
Alma Adams
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to the witnesses for today's discussion. It's been not only interesting, but certainly I've learned a lot. I've been in the classroom for 40 years, but I realize that there's always an opportunity to learn. Just a few months ago, I was on the campus in Arkansas, Arkansas Baptist College, with Representative Hill. And the president there said something that was really interesting.
They have a program that allows young people to, I guess kind of like an apprentice program, actually. They get jobs, and one of the things he said that kind of stood out and I remember as I listened to you all: skills to pay the bills. And so I thought that was kind of a take on what we were talking about. But Americans are fighting to pay their bills, to fill their gas tank, and to put food on the table in an economy that puts billionaires first and hardworking families last. And we should be focused on making it easier for workers to get better jobs and earn higher wages to support their families.
And registered apprenticeships are really one of the best tools to make that a reality. So I really thank you for your comments. Subcommittee Democrats and I welcome any bipartisan support for registered apprenticeships, but talk is cheap. We believe any positive comments must be backed up with concrete action to invest in workforce development and create high-quality apprenticeships. And finally, let me just touch on a point that's been raised during this hearing today.
Vital career tracks, such as nursing, continue to face issues with retention. Workforce training is necessary, but not sufficient to solve the root problem. So at the end of the day, workers are struggling with poor job conditions, with low hours, and low pay. A leaking bucket cannot be fixed simply by pouring more water into it. And so if we want to bolster our economy and truly support workers, then we must take care of the workers already in those roles by raising the minimum wage and empowering workers to collectively bargain for higher pay, safer workplaces, and better benefits.
So again, I thank you all for your testimony today. Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
Burgess Owens
Thank you. First of all, thank you for what you're doing. The stakeholders that actually will be providing remarkable results in the coming years. As we got together earlier, I made a comment, something I heard recently: productive capacity equals power. I want us to keep that in mind.
The last time we saw true productive capacity equating to power was when my dad's generation came back from World War II. They were given something called the GI Bill. You talk about a generation that got really busy. They went out there to educate themselves, they started businesses, they built their families, and we saw the greatest middle class ever in the history of our country from the '50s to the '70s. We're on that edge right now of doing the same thing because we're now recognizing first a couple things.
And I want to say this before we get into the power that we're seeing in this topic right here is bipartisanship.
They just came out in December, $15 million in incentives for states to work together to actually work with employers, employees, to work with states, colleges, to make sure we can have interoperability, have the same common language. And we have something called the MATCH Act that we're putting together that will allow these kind of conversations where you can have portability, where you can have somebody in a different state training themselves and that understanding of that skill set is now accepted elsewhere. We're at a point now where we're having conversations we've never had before at such a great time for our country. And our kids deserve it. We have the sharpest, smartest opportunities for our kids in this country because we believe in freedom.
We believe in opportunity, big dreams. So I'm excited about where we are today, the fact that we're having this conversation at a time where we're going to start to see more and more needs for what we're talking about right now. We're going to be building a remarkable economy over the next coming years. We need to have our kids ready for it. So I'm excited about that process.
Apprenticeships being portable, being verifiable, being trusted innovation. So let's continue to do that. I'd like to make sure just an invite from myself, let's make sure we stay in touch. We want to make sure that over the coming year or so that we really are communicating on how do we make sure that our workforce is doing the things they want to do and they get the dream power they want to have. So that being said, I really appreciate again you being here.
I'd like to thank our witnesses again for taking the time to testify before our subcommittee today. Without objection, there being no further business, the subcommittee now stands adjourned.