New Evidence on the Implementation and Impact of Apprenticeship Programs

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

Apprenticeships--paid, structured, work-based learning opportunities--are at the center of current state and federal employment and training policy. Research suggests that participation in an apprenticeship program increases earnings and employment, but this research focused on traditional apprenticeship programs, predominantly in the building trades. Policymakers need evidence on the implementation and impact of appprenticeship in nontraditional sectors such as healthcare, information technology, and advanced manufacturing. This panel presents new evidence from research on three recent federal apprenticeship grant programs that support apprenticeship in nontraditional sectors: the American Apprenticeship Initiative (AAI) grants, the Scaling Apprenticeship grants, and the Closing the Skills Gap grants.

Doug Walton of Abt Associates will present findings from the long-term outcomes study of the AAI grants, which show substantial and sustained earnings growth for both apprentices and pre‑apprentices supported by the AAI grnats. Apprentices experience a nearly 50 percent increase in inflation‑adjusted annual earnings by the third year after program completion, with the largest gains occurring during the first year of program participation.

Karen Gardiner of the Urban Institute will present findings from the implementation evaluation of the Scaling Apprenticeship and Closing the Skills Gap grants, which provides an overview of the grant programs, summarizes grantee and participant characteristics, discusses apprenticeship program characteristics, describes grantee strategies for recruiting apprentices and helping them persist, and summarizes approaches to employer engagement.

Jonah Deutsh of Mathematica will present findings from the impact evaluation of the Scaling Apprenticeship and Closing the Skills Gap grants, which finds that both registered and unregistered apprenticeship programs had large, statistically significant impacts on employment and earnings in the ninth quarter following enrollment relative to both a college and Wagner-Peyser comparison group. Registered apprenticeship’s positive impact on ninth-quarter earnings ranged from $3,230 in the Wagner-Peyser analysis to $4,693 in the College analysis. Unregistered apprenticeship’s impact on ninth-quarter earnings ranged from $3,368 (College analysis) to $3,490 (Wagner-Peyser analysis).

Daniel Kuehn of the Urban Institute will present findings from the cost-benefit analysis of the Scaling Apprenticeship and Closing the Skills Gap grants for apprenticeships in the healthcare and IT sectors. Per-apprentice benefits of apprenticeship for society as a whole are $199,195 for IT apprentices and $374,457 for healthcare apprentices. For employers of IT apprentices, the median net benefits of apprenticeship range between $20,101 and $24,025 when the data are not weighted by the size of the apprenticeship program and -$19,318 and -$17,962 when the data are weighted. In healthcare, median employer net benefits of apprenticeship range between -$12,451 and -$11,359 when the data are not weighted by the size of the apprenticeship program, and -$15,089 and -$14,029 when the data are weighted.

Policy Area

• Employment and Training Programs

Chair

• Samina Sattar, Mathematica

Discussants

• William Duncan, University of Kansas

• Elizabeth Copson, Abt Global

Organizer

• Daniel Peter Kuehn, Urban Institute

Individual Presentations

• Do Registered Apprentices and Pre‑Apprentices Experience Sustained Earnings Growth? Evidence from the American Apprenticeship Initiative - Presenting Author: Douglas Walton, Abt Global

• The Impact of Registered and Unregistered Apprenticeship: Evidence from Two Federal Grant Programs - Presenting Author: Jonah Deutsch, Mathematica

• The Implementation of Registered and Unregistered Apprenticeship: Evidence From Two Federal Grant Programs - Presenting Author: Karen N Gardiner, Urban Institute

• Benefits and Costs of Healthcare and Information Technology Apprenticeships: Evidence from Two Federal Grant Programs - Presenting Author: Daniel Peter Kuehn, Urban Institute