Trump Administration Supports Apprenticeship Program Expansion
U.S. Labor Secretary Alex Acosta speaking at ATA’s Management Conference & Exhibition. Photo: Deborah Lockridge
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U.S. Labor Secretary Alex Acosta speaking at ATA’s Management Conference & Exhibition. Photo: Deborah Lockridge
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ORLANDO – The Trump Administration will make it easier for groups such as the American Trucking Associations and the trucking industry to put in place apprentice programs to cross the job skills gap and help address driver and technician shortages, said U.S. Labor Secretary Alex Acosta at ATA’s Management Conference & Exhibition.
“American companies have 6.1 million job openings today,” Acosta said. “That’s a record high, almost the highest since we started keeping these statistics. There were 247,000 in transportation and warehousing as of this month’s report. Job creators want to hire. And Americans want to work, with nearly 7 million individuals looking for jobs. Job seekers need different skills to fill the open jobs. This is frequently referred to as the skills gap.”
One solution, he said, and one the Trump administration is pushing, is rapid expansion of apprenticeship programs. The administration is creating something called “industry recognized apprenticeships.” The U.S. Department of Labor Task Force on Apprenticeship.
“Apprentices earn skills for which there is actual demand,” Acosta said. “You’re educated in something for which there are jobs open. Second they earn while they learn, lessening the burden of student debt. Third, apprentices gain expertise from the real experts in the field.”
Yet apprenticeships are vastly underutilized, Acosta noted, making up only 0.3% of American workers – and the average age is 28, meaning workers are only finding out about these opportunities mid-career.
“By rapidly expanding apprenticeship opportunities, we can create new career pathways, especially for students, for young Americans looking for jobs,” Acosta said.
Expanding apprenticeships across all industries is a priority for the Trump administration, he said, and an executive order created a new model of industry-recognized apprenticeships. The Department of Labor will bring together trade and …Read the rest of this story
