Rep. Susie Lee: “Apprenticeships Are Key to Workforce Development”

March 4, 2020

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Susie Lee (Nev.-03), a member of the House Committee on Education and Labor, participated in a full committee hearing considering the reauthorization of the National Apprenticeship Act, and the committee's efforts to create 1 million new registered apprenticeship opportunities.

Rep. Lee highlighted her bipartisan bill, the Cyber Ready Workforce Act, which would expand apprenticeship opportunities in the rapidly growing cyber industry:

"One issue that I want to address is aligning our push for high quality apprenticeships with critical or emerging sectors of our modern economy.

"One of these critical sectors is our cybersecurity workforce. I am proud to have introduced the Cyber Ready Workforce Act with Representative Stefanik. This legislation would award grants to workforce entities to support the creation of registered apprenticeship programs in cybersecurity.

"Specifically, this registered apprenticeship program would include industry-recognized certification in cybersecurity and encourage stackable and portable credits."

Rep. Lee asked Dr. Morna Foy, president of the Wisconsin Technical College System and a statewide leader in workforce development, to what extent they are considering job losses due to automation, which studies have shown will have a considerable impact on the Las Vegas metropolitan area's workforce:

Rep. Lee – "My home state of Nevada is the most vulnerable to the effects of job automation according to a study by the company Smart Asset. In particular, the Las Vegas metro area ranks in the top five of 150 metropolitan areas analyzed. So this is an incredibly important issue for our workforce development.

"In terms of your workforce development strategies, including bolstering apprenticeship opportunities, can you explain to what extent you have taken into account any data or analysis concerning automation or other job related risks to specific occupation categories?"

Dr. Foy – "That concern about automation, is really for us, a lifelong learning problem. We don't have a lot of new Wisconsinites being born, we don't have a lot of new Wisconsinites graduating from high school, certainly not at the level that we have had in the past.

"Our employers are faced with a situation where they have two choices: they can upscale their current workforce, and they can tap into previously non-participants in their industry—attracting new groups in the population."

"Apprenticeships are a great way to do that because you're working while you are learning [emphasis added]. There's virtually no cost to apprenticeships in our state.

"So how we're addressing automation is that we are giving our incumbent workforce the skills they need run to run those machines, instead of doing the work that the machines are doing."

BACKGROUND: Rep. Lee has introduced numerous bills to bolster workforce development and strengthen apprenticeship opportunities for Americans across diverse communities:

Rep. Lee and U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen (Nev.) introduced the Cyber Ready Workforce Act. This bill will give students and workers apprenticeship opportunities in the cyber industry, giving them the key skills they need to compete in the developing 21st-century economy.
Rep. Lee introduced the bipartisan Hire Student Veterans Act to help ensure that all student veterans can take advantage of valuable paid internships or work opportunities while in school.
Rep. Lee's bill to reauthorize the Older Americans Act, the Dignity in Aging Act, passed the House in October 2019. Included as a provision in that legislation is her bill with the Education and Labor Chairman Bobby Scott, the Direct Creation, Advancement, and Retention of Employment (CARE) Opportunity Act, which invests in training and employment advancement opportunities for America's direct care workers.

Registered Apprenticeships

Registered Apprenticeship Expansion Registered apprenticeships (RAs) have existed in the United States since 1911, with Wisconsin creating the first state RA system. In 1937 Congress enacted the National Apprenticeship Act, also known as the Fitzgerald Act after its sponsor former Rep. William Joseph Fitzgerald, (Conn.-02).

RAs are a workforce training strategy that combines related instruction with on-the-job learning, often referred to as an "earn and learn" model. An RA is a paid job, and contracts of apprenticeship require worker protections as well as progressively increasing wages commensurate with increasing skills. Upon completion, the DOL provides apprentices with a nationally recognized and portable credential. There are now over 1,200 apprenticeable occupations in which an apprentice can participate, from the traditional construction and military occupations to newer sectors like information technology, finance, and health care in both union and non-union businesses. The DOL, through the Office of Apprenticeship (OA), has responsibility for the administration of the RA system, and for providing grants to states, intermediaries and other providers.

According to the DOL, the U.S. has added over 600,000 new registered apprentices since Jan. 1, 2017, with the number of active apprentices currently 137 percent higher than the 20 year annual average. This growth in state and nationally approved RA programs has been spurred through progressively increased funding and initiatives originally launched under the Obama administration. State expansion grants helped create 133,428 registered apprentices, and Industry and Equity Intermediary Partnerships have helped create 20,406 registered apprentices to date. In Fiscal Year 2018, more than 238,000 individuals nationwide entered the RA system, and over 47,000 veterans nationwide were active participants.

Registered apprenticeships are a proven federal investment, with 94 percent of apprentices employed after completion of their programs, earning an average of over $70,000.00 annually.
Legislation is needed to scale up the number of registered apprenticeships while growing youth apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeships, and ensuring all programs are considered high-quality pathways to and through postsecondary education.
Through continued investment, RAs can continue to expand to new industries, occupations, and populations, and serve as a proven pathway to the middle class and beyond.

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