Workforce Rewired: Modern Apprenticeships for a Modern Economy

to earn academic credentials while gaining world work world experience. These models recognize that learning and work do not have to be siloed and they can offer another pathway for individuals to build skills while progressing toward a degree. Researchers estimate that forty percent of the skills required for today's jobs will change over the next next decade. That reality presents a challenge not only for workers, but also for employers who need talent that's able to adapt to changing business needs. Traditional model for education followed by decades, excuse me, in a single role is significantly less common than once than it once was. In today's economy, workers increasingly need opportunities to upskill, re-skill, and require new competencies as they work. The rapid adaption to our artificial intelligence is only making that need clearer. The Trump administration understands the strength of earn and learn models and the Department of Law Labor has made apprenticeship expansion a work priority. The department has taken steps to streamline program administration, increase transparency, and reduce barriers to employer participation. This while supporting the growth of apprenticeships in both traditional trades and emerging fields uh through AI apprenticeship portals. The administration has also promoted innovative apprenticeship models in areas such as artificial intelligence in advanced technology and emphasize result driven workforce investments that focus on outcomes for workers and employers alike. Today's hearing gives us an opportunity to examine how apprenticeship models are helping meet new workforce challenges. We'll hear from workforce leaders who are building innovative pathways that prepare prepare workers for jobs of today and tomorrow. We'll also discuss barriers that continue to limit employer participation and consider new policy makers uh, consider ways new p- that the policymakers can support high quality, employer-driven, earn and learn opportunities while preserving flexibility and innovation. As inno- as industries evolved and technology reshapes the workplace place, the need for rapid, continuous skill and development will only grow. Apprenticeships provide a proven way to help workers acquire new skills, help employers build t- talent pipelines, and assure our workforce can adapt to the demands of the changing economy. With that, I yield to the ranking member for her open opening statement.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to our witnesses for joining us today. Uh, right now many Americans are facing an economy that just is not working for them. President Trump and Trump and congressional Republicans' reckless economic policies are forcing working families to do more with less. Americans are struggling to afford housing, groceries and gas. According to a recent Gallup poll, less than half of Americans can afford health care. Americans are struggling to keep their heads above water. Uh, as the cost of living continues to rise, we must ensure that every worker can access a good-paying job, gain the skills required to thrive in today's economy. Registered apprenticeships are one of the best models of job training that we have to ensure that workers' econ- work- to ensure the workers' economic security. Each year, hundreds of thousands of workers com- complete a registered apprenticeship program and earn money, uh, while learning in-demand skills and receive nationally recognized credentials that lead to rewarding careers. They also provide employers with a pipeline of talented employees. Registered apprenticeships are are so successful that nine out of ten apprentices continue to be employed upon completing their program and earn an average starting wage of approximately eighty thousand dollars a year. Registered apprenticeships are the gold standard of workforce training because of their high quality program standards. These quality standards not only insure that apprentices build valuable skills while earning a salary and benefits but also that they receive a a a credential that is valued in in the labor market and recognized by employers across the country. Without these standards, workers can become vulnerable to predatory ineffective programs. We're fortunate to have John Ladd as one of our witnesses this morning. Mr. Ladd ran the Department of of Labor's uh Office of Apprenticeship across four presidential administrations, both Republican and Democratic. There's nobody better to tell us about the benefits and and the potential of registered apprenticeships. And as Mr. Ladd notes in his thoughtful testimony, uh the number of apprentices doubled since twenty fourteen, but we have more work to do to continue this growth and expand opportunities for women and other populations that remain statistically underrepresented in registered apprenticeship programs. 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 wel- 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 twenty twenty five, Elon Musk's doge uh 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. Uh 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 Research University, whose president, Mister Ross, is testifying today. The Trump administration's uh recent budgets propose consolidating workforce development uh programs, uh and House Republicans' recent spending bill only includes a slight increase for apprenticeships. This is not a blueprint to reach one million apprentices. Uh the Trump administration issued guidance uh 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 by Mr. Chairman to enter our letter into the record. And finally, uh, Mr. Chairman, some Republicans who claim to love registered apprentices are the same folks who never miss a chance to attack the labor movement, which is a key driver and funder of registered

Answer.

apprenticeships that does not make m- 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 in innovation in this policy area among others. I look forward to today's discussion and I yield back the balance of my time, Mister Chairman.

Thank you. Pursuant to Committee Rule eight C, 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 five p m. fourteen days after this hearing. And without objection, the hearing will remain open for fourteen days to allow statements and other material noted during the hearings to be submitted for the official hearing record. Uh, and will now like to to introduce the four distinguished witnesses we have. Our first witness is Mr. 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 of Columbus, Ohio. Third witness is Mister John Ladd, Senior Advisor in the Center for Apprenticeship and Work-based Learning, at Jobs for Future in Washington, D. C. And the fourth witness is Miss Natasha Sherwood, Chair uh uh Director of Chapter and Workforce Development for the Independent Elect- uh uh Electroni- Elect- Electrical uh Con- uh Contractors in Tampa, Florida. Thank you so much. Um, I want to thank the witnesses for being here today. We look forward to your testimonies. Pursuant to committee rules, I'll ask uh that each of you limit your oral presentation to 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 eight D, the community practi uh 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. At first, I'd like to recognize Miss Angel for your testimony.

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 apprenticeship program we lovingly call TAP. supporting between eight hundred and eighteen hundred apprentices at any given time and our journey worker teammates who mentor them. In twenty twenty three, 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 a inter-rock or reinforcement was you might not get to talk at the dinner table. This upbringing showed me how beneficial careers and 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 twenty four 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, and it pays 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 her career, an apprentice generates just over five hundred thousand dollars 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 three point two million dollars across each apprentice's working life. By the end of twenty twenty-four, TAP had served almost a thousand apprentices in texas alone supporting twenty two point one million dollars in added income and nearly three hundred jobs across the state. It is important to emphasize this is just texas. Nationally, caliber has already graduated approximately three thousand apprentices and has another eight hundred to eighteen hundred in training at any given time across forty-one states if these results were scaled nationwide the economic social impact would be transformative, 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 a 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 experiences, and combines technical training with mentorship and real-world experience for a clear path to certification. It's competency-based, typically completed in twelve to eighteen 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.

Thank you. Well, now I would like to recognize Mister, Mister Ross for your testimony.

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 each 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 seventy-five dollars 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 thirty-four hundred working adults across ten states, sixty-five percent of them are Pell eligible, with a sixty-eight percent on-time graduation rate, and an eighty-four percent immediate job placement rate. Take Nicole Menard of St. Mary's Parish, Louisiana. As a widowed mother earning twenty thousand dollars 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 fifty 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 twenty 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.

Thank you. And I'd like to recognize Mister Ladd for your testimony.

Good morning, Chairman, Ranking Member and members of the committee. Uh, 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 f- at Jobs for the Future Center for Apprenticeship and Work-based Learning. Before joining JFF, I d- I served as Administrator of the US Department of Labor's Office of Apprenticeship across four administrations both Republican and Democratic. JFF believes strongly in the power of apprenticeship and work-based learning having created created the center almost ten 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, J- JFF has helped develop or expand apprenticeship efforts in forty states, engaged more than thirty-three hundred employers and sponsors, and supported more than fourteen thousand apprentices. JFF has a long history of partnering with DOL on a range of - a n- 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 uh to scale have been remarkably successful. But to move apprenticeship forward, we must develop a consensus-based strategy and framework for our modern apprenticeship system. Registered Br- Apprenticeship has benefitted from strong bipartisan support, and the United States has made real progress with the system having doubled since twenty fourteen. which coincides with the advent of federal funding. Registered apprenticeship now produces more than three hundred thousand new apprentices annually, making it the largest training delivery system overseen by ETA, with meaningful expansion into sectors far beyond construction. However, gl- growth has slowed in recent years and without deliberate action, the country is not on track to meet the President's goal of one million active apprentices by twenty-thirty, 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. Many more actors are now involved across a growing ecosystem, which is a sign of real progress, but it has also created confusion, especially for employers new to apprenticeship. Too often they do not know who can help design programs, deliver instruction, recruit apprentices or connect them to public resources. 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 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 one 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 nineteen thirty-seven, but it was written for a very different econ- economy. Today, apprenticeship me- 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. modernized data and performance and accountability systems, and lastly addressed long-standing tensions in the system in ways that preserve preserve quality while allowing innovation. In this two hundred and fiftieth anniversary year, Congress has a chance to do something both important and fitting. Apprenticeship helps shape early American opportunity and c- and it can help shape our future as well. Congress can strengthen apprenticeships for the next generation by building a more connected innovative and

Thank you. And last, I'd like to recognize Ms. Sherman 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 fifty-four chapters, forty-two hundred contractors, and twenty-two thousand apprentices. If we're gonna rewire the workforce, we first need enough people to wire America. We need eighty thousand 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 on-line 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. Then came the text, " I'll never forget" or " delete". Photos of a future that Jaden never imagined for himself, his first pair of work boots, his first car, his first apartment, and just last month another first. He completed his first year of apprenticeship with a ninety-one percent 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 the 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 two hundred 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. IAC apprentices earned fifty-seven 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 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 gonna 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. Techni- 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 academ- 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. IAC 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.

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. Uh, Miss Angel, as uh if if an eighteen year old asks you t- tomorrow whether they should take a thirty thousand dollar student debt and pursue traditional higher education or enter the apprenticeship with their earning with their earning a paycheck on day one, what factors would you tell them to consider?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's funny you ask. I have an eighteen 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 wanna study? What do you wanna look forward to in the future? What do you wanna 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 my, I told my daughter and all of her friends, Don't choose college or trade because of prestige or what you think you know. Choose the ba- 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.

Thank you. Uh, Miss Ross, uh, for years we've heard employers say, " We need skills." We've heard universities say, " We provide degrees." Your model seems to suggest that it 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, uh, what still needs to be done to reali to recognize and realize that future?

Well, i- it is indeed a both-and proposition. uh as uh Under Secretary Nicholas Kent recently put it,

Yes, it's the

credit for work,

Mike, yeah.

uh I was the one who didn't do,

Yeah.

turn on my microphone, I knew it would be me. Um so 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 it the workplaces where learners can put theories to the test connect theory with practice, they can demonstrate their skills, they can apply their skills, uh it's where they can engage in sense making. And uh it's important because it means that working adults don't have to choose between the paycheck they need now and the degree or or the credential that that could get them ahead. Uh what's gonna make it more of reality? I think that as we see new models emerge, we're gonna need to see uh 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.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Mr. Wert, um you worked in education workforce development for much of your career. What's the biggest misconception parents and students still have about careers and the skilled trades? That's a great question. Michelle, Michelle, no, I'm sorry, it was Michelle Wood. Uh, sure. Oh, sorry. Michelle Wood, I'm sorry. It's okay.

Thank you, Congressman. I think there's several misconceptions, um, but perhaps the biggest is that apprenticeship is only for those who can't get into college. As a former teacher in principle and I often joke I'm a college for all addict recovering, um, I didn't really understand apprenticeship, and looking bad that makes me sad because I realized 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, decide makes that decision, I wanna post that and have the exact same celebration in 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 wanna be a BIM specialist or own a 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 a great career.

Thank you. Thank you so much. And I'd like to recognize the recommend uh ranking member for her uh purpose of questioning uh the witnesses.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, and um uh Mister Ross, thank you uh for being here. Um uh I I understand that that each university had millions of dollars in grants canceled by the Trump administration for its teachers' college. Is that correct? Just give me a yes or no sign.

Uh yes ma'am.

OK. Uh so uh could you tell us uh briefly what those funds were going to

Well, all the work we do supports working adults in communities across the country and earning their turning their job into a degree and we understand that uh with a new administration comes new priorities uh building a new enterprise a new social enterprise has its ups and downs but we're pleased to see Yes. that there are some new grant competitions that have been released prioritizing apprenticeship and work-based learning and degree-connected apprenticeship and uh my team calls me the consummate optimist but I do think that's

K. K, I wan- I wanna - I wanna move once.

good.

Can you - So what were the grants um uh what were they going to support? And who were they serving?

Well they were s- they were supporting uh uh folks working in uh workplaces, uh paraeducators.

Okay. Okay.

Uh we uh we were able to continue that work and uh We're

OK, let me I've got several more questions. So do you think that uh the uh canceling uh by the Trump administration uh grants, such as yours and the one in North Carolina uh that I mentioned in my opening statements advances what seems to be a bipartisan goal of increasing the number of apprentices n apprentices nationwide and y- a yes or no would be one that answers as well.

Well, I think the the the the rise of apprenticeship is is being supported in a bipartisan way and that's evidenced by governors and the administration and everybody here in this room

ok

uh everyone talks about the bipartisan support for this work so we're optimistic.

ok ok thank you sir let me let me go to mister lad uh thank you for being here mister lad in in your testimony um uh uh your testimony predicts that we will fall fall short of of one million apprentices apprentices by the end of of the decade without deliberate intervention intervention So would you elaborate on that? Um uh and do you think that the Trump administration canceling grants for apprenticeship programs and apprenticeship research puts our country closer to one million apprenticeships or further away from that goal?

Uh, thank you very much. Um yeah, so we've done some uh looking at the the rate of growth over the past few years, and um on our current path we are we are not on uh on a trajectory to reach one million and this is something you know the administration i- is very aware of and is open to ideas. Um you know my larger point in my testimony is that we have gone through a series of cycles of uh disruption and and then momentum and progress.

So so let me just reclaim my time because I have a few more things and and we're almost at the at the end of of my time so is that gonna put us closer to one million apprenticeships um uh do you think? or is it gonna take us further away from the goal?

No, I think gen- generally when we've had disruption it's taken us further away from

Further away, OK. So do you think that the uh current um House administration spending bill, which provides only five million dollars uh increase for the Office of Apprenticeships brings our country closer to one million apprenticeships, or further away from that goal?

No, again, we are not at the level of funding that we need to reach the reach the goals.

OK. OK, as I as I mentioned earlier uh in my opening statement, Congresswoman Bonamici and I have written to the Department uh regarding recent sub-regulatory guidance on registered apprenticeships that weakens safeguards and creates opportunities for abuse. We haven't heard back from them. So, Mister Laird, 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 uh programs into apprenticeships and these uh phantom apprenticeship programs could not could only allow existing employees eligible for advanced standing to apply. So do you think that this is a a fair concern, and are there any other ways that you see these circulars uh could lead to abuse?

I I think it is a fair concern. Uh, you know, 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 uh kind of hold the line uh on that. Um, this is another example of that tension in the system that that i mentioned earlier between we wanna 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 do both

ok let me let me get this last uh point in uh we are working here to ensure that underrepresented groups can access apprenticeship programs uh what do you think the historically black colleges and universities role can be and do you see a role for the degree connected apprentices yeah Six seconds, though.

Absolutely, yes. Uh, we work very closely with HBCUs and - and other minority serving institutions. They can serve as sponsors and intermediaries and a broad - broad range of roles.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I did that.

Thank you. Uh, now I'd like to recognize, uh, my friend from Michigan, the, uh, Chairman of the full committee, uh, Mister Walbert.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thanks for this, uh, this hearing today, this panel. I think, uh, the pendulum has swung. It's swung too far, the I think the wrong direction for one size fits all, higher education, four year institutions, et cetera. 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. Uh, it's called a practice.

Mm-hmm.

And it and it's working. And and it's 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. Uh, the health care problem we have in this country isn't the Republican problem, uh, as was tried to, uh, be filtered to - to us this morning. It's the Unaffordable Care Act. It's the Democrat proposal. We're talking about a a a a plan that works for the masses in apprenticeship, so thank you for the panel that's here today. Um, Miss Angel, uh, I remember my days as a, uh, 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, uh, the the the owners could be proud again of their vehicle. uh we hear of a technician shortage what is what does that shortage actually mean for everyday Americans

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 technician 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 fifty-eight percent 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.

Yeah, it can also be a huge frustration to the consumer.

Yeah.

So to get it done right in an efficient way is is so important. Thanks for the work you do. Um, Mister Ross, it's it's, as a Michigander, it's a delight to finally hear of a quality educational institution coming from Columbus, Ohio. Um, turning jobs into degrees, if colleges across America adopted the model, uh, what would look fundamentally different about a higher education ten years from now?

Well, for starters, uh, Mr. Sherman, higher

Microphone.

Ah, there I go again. For starters, higher education would look a lot like more would look a lot like apprenticeship, uh, along the lines of the ABCs that I that I discussed, affordable without student debt, based in workplaces across, uh, the country, and conferring credit for work. Another thing that would look different is the faculty model would would look different. At Reach, our degree candidates are job embedded, uh, and so are much of our faculty. So, colleagues or classmates and experienced colleagues are your professors. But they're not the kind of professor they just - they're professors. They mentor and they engage in - in - in l- in learning through conversation. And thir- because of all that, uh, it - it offers this - this, uh, uh, double benefit in terms of outcomes, near-term job skills, and the long-term human flourishing that higher education was supposed to have delivered.

Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Um, Mr. Wood, um, it shouldn't be a shock. Speaking of electricity,

Yeah.

that the new technologies that are out there,

Do what?

uh, in- increasing electric- electrification and, and, uh, changing workforce needs are there. How is your organization modifying training programs to prepare apprenticeships for those emerging demands?

Absolutely. Uh, 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 their 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 on-line learning platforms so that a single mom can work at night through a course, whether that's synchronous and asynchronous learning on-line, 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 two hundred 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.

A lot of common sense. My time has expired,

Go ahead.

but uh appreciate your testimony and all of you. Thank you. I yield back.

Thank you. I'd now like to recognize my friend from Georgia, Mr. Beth.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. and thank you to each of our witnesses that are with us today. We appreciate you. Um, 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 glo- 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. We'll 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. Apprenticeships get paid Apprentices rather get paid as they learn and don't have to take out loans that they may never never a 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 cause 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. Mister Ladd, can you please discuss some of the innovative registered apprenticeship programs that are happening outside of the construction industry and what are you seeing in education, finance? in health care that is particularly exciting and could also be scaled.

Thank you. Uh, I very much appreciate the question and, uh, appreciate the focus on teacher apprenticeships. I, I think that was, uh, 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 uh 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 uh a teacher degree and and uh uh credential as part of that pathway um you know I I believe now that innovation is becoming more the norm than the exception you see innovation everywhere both in the traditional uh construction trades as well as outside of construction uh 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 uh that will provide an associate's degree uh through western governors uh university and uh this is another great example of expanding apprenticeship into new industries blending the model uh we don't wanna have to make people choose between apprenticeship or education it's it's a no dead-end pathway uh that is inclusive of both Uh, if you wanna stop at apprenticeship, you can stop, if you wanna move on to traditional f- uh, education, you have that option.

Well, thank you so much. And as I said before, you should not have to already have money to make money in the United States of America. And I yield.

Thank you. I'd like now like to recognize my friend from Missouri, uh, Doctor Under.

Thank you, Chairman Owens. I'm glad we're having this hearing today t- about how to unleash apprenticeship opportunities for Americans. Uh, any serious conversation on apprenticeships uh apprenticeships, though, I uh should include the negative impact of project labor agreements. The construction industry is by has by far the most apprenticeships of any other industry. Uh, 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 uh, in fiscal year twenty seventeen was just over twelve thousand. Missouri ranked eleventh of all states for total numbers of apprenticeships, pretty, pretty good, but state government mandated PLAs on public works projects hindered Missouri from being a top state for apprenticeships. But after Governor Ergarten signed my bill to overturn PLA mandates, Missouri apprenticeship opportunities skyrocket skyrocketed. In fiscal year twenty twenty-four we nearly doubled the number of Missourians in apprenticeships and now rank fourth nationwide with the other much larger states ranking behind us, including New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. Uh, Ms. Sherwood, uh, can you walk us through how, um, union-only project labor agreements make construction projects more expensive and limit employers' ability to offer high-quality apprenticeship programs?

Congressman, thank you. Yes, our concern is that Project labor agreements um actually reduce workforce participation rather than expanding it. Many marriage 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, I noticed from 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.

in program.

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.

Yep. 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 ex- exists in thirty 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 twenty twenty-three, uh, and these numbers are startling, in twenty twenty-three, California had eighty-five union grabs compared to only twenty-three non-union in its construction industry. By reference in the same year, Iowa had thirty-three union grabs and six hundred forty-eight non-union, GRAPS, and its construction industry. Miss Sherwood, uh what can Congress do to ensure that all uh apprenticeship programs have an equal opportunity to get approved?

Absolutely. There's a couple of things and thank you for that question. Um, one of it's restrictive ratio requirements keep us from being able to put enough, um, apprentices on the jobs and PLA agreements require limit participation. Um, right now, for example, IAC is working to with contractors in Las Vegas. They've come together, they 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 eighty thousand 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 really

Especially with the AI boom.

Yeah, especially with AI boom,

Yeah.

data centers, all the manufacturing, I will say on the good note working with the DOL, they've been super responsive.

Amen. Uh lastly,

Mm.

Miss Sherwood, this subcommittee strives to identify programs and strategies that are best in workforce development. Uh your industry has trained apprentices successfully for decades. Um what what practices uh have you identified?

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.

Thank you. And I'd like to uh recognize my friend from Connecticut, Mister Courtney.

Th- thank you uh Chairman Owens and thank you to the witnesses uh for being here today. Again I uh have the privilege of representing the congressional district that actually was the birthplace of the Fitzgerald Act uh Congressman William Fitzgerald uh who was a first term congressman from uh eastern Connecticut. Uh he actually entered the workforce when he was fifteen years old at a foundry, uh worked his way up to um you know again high political uh office uh again as a freshman, he was able to convince the Congress unanimously to pass the Fitzgerald Act. Uh, again, his his own personal testimony describing, um, the exploitation of apprentices, uh, again, minor, uh, children, uh, back in the day when when he started out, um, but also his adamant, um, insistence that we really needed to create quality standards, uh, as a national, uh, base. Uh, and the certificates, if they're not sort of, uh, adhering to a national standard, really are not uh transportable from one uh part of the country uh to the other, I mean it actually liberates workers to who go through apprenticeships to be able to, again, uh take their trade uh in their families or whatever uh to different parts uh of the country. And unfortunately that sort of seems to be sort of the crux of the of the you know, 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 uh with the Trump administration. So, Mister Ladd, in terms of your experience working in the Office of Apprenticeships, I mean, this issue of quality standards, um, is not excessive government. It's really to make sure that the the system actually has integrity. And maybe you could talk about that for a little bit.

Yeah, that that's exactly right, and, uh, do appreciate, uh, the long history with Connecticut and, uh, I hear that often from my my friends in Connecticut and Wisconsin, which was also the first state in in the union to uh registered apprenticeship programs um but that's exactly right that um you know the one page national apprenticeship act uh in nineteen thirty seven 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 um a a s- a standard that is not driven by the government but driven by industry um 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 the the debates as you mentioned the this kind of ping-ponging back and forth we do need to find room to insure that we have a system that promotes quality and consistency and navigat- navigability across a system, but also that does allow for innovation and allows for other industries and other models to emerge.

Correct. And again, we're seeing innovation in Connecticut. Uh, the Hartford Insurance Group, uh, actually started, uh, an an apprenticeship program, again, for IT, uh, their IT workforce, uh, that's there and, again, they've been around for a long time. My father was a insurance guy back in the day and, um, you know they were very leery about apprenticeships about it just sort of didn't sound right but they 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 um has doubled uh from uh twenty fourteen to twenty twenty six so the notion that somehow you know we're suffocating the the the system you know with um Fitzgerald Act which should be reauthorized and and 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 that you know, all the mythology about how onerous it is uh in fact was not the case. And I and I would just note for uh Miss Sherwood um electric boat shipyard right now is t- is uh involved in the number one priority of the US Navy which is to recapitalize. ballistic submarine force, uh the the Columbia class program, uh a PLA agreement, uh can build uh an eight hundred million dollar production facility on time under budget. Um and today again it's, you know, the first of the subs is uh hopefully uh gonna be delivered uh in twenty twenty eight. Um 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 um PLAs are somehow inherently um uh gonna 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 uh on the waterfront at that shipyard that are PLAs to to meet the the nation's demand signal f uh for uh our Navy fleet, and with that I yield back.

Thank you, and I'd like to um uh recognize my friend from uh Wisconsin, uh Miss Kaufman.

Thank you. Uh, I think we have uh 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 only uh they don't pay tuition themselves, uh 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 and it, 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 uh somehow we gotta get that out more i mean there are so many people who are very quickly making six figures without debt uh provided they go the skills education sort of way um now we'll start with mister ross when i was elected in congress i've been since being elected in congress i try to insure that students are well equipped to take advantage of apprenticeship programs i'm very happy to see the work done in a 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.

Well, uh thank you for the question. Uh, you know, in in every county in this country, there are schools that need teachers. In almost every county there are clinic 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, health care, uh that's where this starts because to fill those higher paying jobs, employers know they need to train uh train their people uh uh uh for a period of time.

Okay, uh Mrs. Angel, um 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

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.

Yeah, I'll I'll ask you guys a general question, kinda 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, need more apprenticeships openings? You see what I'm saying? We we agree we need more people on skills,

I

but where where is the bottleneck? Not enough people wanna become a a skilled tradesman, or we don't have enough slots for apprentices?

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 and the marketplace, but it takes a mentor to be able to have an apprentice, and growing and scaling that program is costly.

Mister Ross, same question.

Well, you know, in health care and teachings 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, uh, 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.

So you say you mention nurses. You think the problem is there are not enough slots.

Well.

If I wanna become a nurse there are not enough slots.

I th- nursing's interesting. I- i- i- 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 a nursing board and the programmatic accreditors and the employers in higher ed and getting them to do a model that looks like an apprenticeship it takes coordination in some states to figure this out, like Alabama, but it's been a barrier and uh it's something that we need to overcome if we're gonna sh- address the nursing shortage.

Thank you. I guess that's I took my time.

Thank you. Uh, and I'd like to recognize my friend Morgan Mispon-Ponemici.

Uh, thank you, Chairman and ranking member, and thank you so much to the witnesses. Um, high quality apprenticeships we know can create a path to employment, build a highly skilled workforce, level the playing field for individuals with barriers to employment. I've been a long time supporter uh of the apprenticeship programs. We need more paid work-based learning opportunities to prepare the first for in-demand jobs and I've been watching interestingly the uh extension of apprenticeships to nontraditional fields usually people thought, oh that would only be in the trades, but uh that's expanding but but it's critical that these opportunities provide meaningful and high quality uh 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 uh 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, Mister Ladd, you served as Administrator for the Employment and Training Administration's Office of Apprenticeship for seventeen years. Uh, as I mentioned, this, uh, uh, this administration is loosening standards. They removed any time-based guardrails on completing, uh, competency-based standards. And you've recommended in the past that a minimum of one year of training is important, but is it, I wanna 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?

Sorry, did it again. Uh, I appreciate the question and and appreciate the concerns. Um, you know, the the one year uh minimum uh requirement for apprenticeship I think is something that that is throughout the the process for determining uh which occupations can be apprenticeable and so uh you know I I think the broader context on on the guidance is that the system is still learning how to utilize these models of competency-based apprenticeship hy hybrid models and we put out guidance uh earlier because we felt like there w- there were a lot of questions uh about how do you do this how do you how do you track uh and assess competency based programs compared to time-based programs. I do think you know we need a more structural solution to to this issue, uh one where we recognize occupations for the occupation itself divorced from the training approach.

Right.

We shouldn't be defining occupations as time-based or competency. An electrician is an electrician.

Right, right.

It's there's not a competency-based electrician. and then how how this sponsor assesses progress through that program should be determined by by the program. Um, but if we had if we make that determination at the beginning I think we could avoid some of these these challenges.

Uh, thank you, I appreciate that, and and, you know, the administration has this very lofty goal of adding another one million apprentices on Mister Lad between November twenty twenty four and November twenty twenty five the department reduced its workforce by uh fourteen percent, including a loss of more than a hundred and fifty staffers from from ETA. They cut millions of dollars uh of previously awarded grants for apprenticeship programs and research including about fourteen million dollars to reach university I'm sure Mister Ross is familiar with that. Um the uh Trump administration's proposed fiscal year twenty twenty-seven budget would cut the ETA's funding by another three point five billion dollars and that's a decrease of about twenty-six percent. from twenty twenty six so how will the decrease capacity of the department of labor affect apprenticeship programs, um and will this proposal for the department to there's this proposal that's there that the department should approve new applications in thirty days uh which seems totally unrealistic um so what can we expect,

Mm-hmm.

um can they uh approve new high quality apprenticeship programs within thirty days?

Um. I think actually that part of the process is not the the the the challenge in the system. The the challenge in the system is around convening employers and bringing them together to develop the the training standards. The the approval processes are are fairly quick, and so I I don't think that is as much of an issue, but I do believe that there are capacity challenges uh at the federal level, and I do think um 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, uh, including providing adequate resources to meet goals, to set policy direction,

Right.

to provide technical assistance, to provide, uh, data systems and r- and set performance accountability systems.

Right.

So there is a clear role for the federal government in - in these things.

And Absolutely. And that - 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 one million new apprenticeships, but their actions and their budget proposal shows that they are not serious about making that happen. Uh, instead it's, uh, another broken promise from this administration. And just as a reminder, we are spending the country is sp- uh, is spending about between eight hundred and ninety million dollars and two billion dollars per day on the war. That money should go to education. and other things that actually help American people and I yield back.

Thank you. I'd like to now recognize my friend from Guam, Mr. Moreland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Welcome panel, thank you for your testimonies. Um, we could really use a lot more apprentice in Guam, especially with the large military build-up that's ongoing. It's about every skilled labor uh is needed on the island. It's difficult to get folks train uh from the mainland coming on over just because the distance, the travel time, it's way, way, way far away from home. So, uh, we're relying right now for this build-up a lot dealing with our H two B 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, uh, eight eight zero zero, the NDAA, uh, specifically, uh, regards the expansion of eligible education programs under the Smart Defense Education program. So I'm just gonna read it to you and then uh hopefully you can tell me if this helps you folks out in uh taking care of some of the struggles that you're having with the apprenticeship program so uh it amends and it strikes out as pursuing an associate's degree under graduate degree or advanced degree in critical skill or discipline uh described in sub at an accredited uh college or higher education. And then it inserts is pursuing an associate's undergraduate degree, advanced degree, and critical skill or discipline described at an accredited institution for higher education or career and technical education, vocational education, apprenticeship participation, or workforce uh credentialing program. So we added uh to the uh smart defense education program and i'm wondering if you have uh do you feel this will be helpful uh and if so why and especially for rural folks like out way out here in Guam please whoever wishes to start.

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 an opposing debt. And that's something that I think reach university has shown is not not required. Uh, 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, uh, helps support that and allows us to think of on the job work. It's counting for regular academic progress, uh, and it can be done a number of different ways. And so I think expanding opportunity is the first step.

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 and set up a electrical program, but we have online. I'll be happy to get you set up with that. But additionally, um, through the electrical industry we talked about that there's many different outlets. And one of the, uh, contractors in where I was the executive director down in Florida previously works with government and he needed a cyber security program cuz all of his electricians needed be cyber security trained as well. And just actually today or yesterday, our cyber security standards were submitted to the state of florida for approval so that cyber security amendment like that would help him with individuals that are able to take on the cyber security they're all connecting with what was a traditional skilled trades but they need that to be able to build actually i think in guam

anybody else oh thank you thank you panel thank you mr. german

thank you i'd like to uh recognize my friend from new jersey uh mr. milkross

Thank you, Mister Chairman, thank you for holding this uh important hearing on apprenticeship. Uh, to remind everybody, apprenticeship is just a method of instruction that is different. Uh, the narrative in this country that we've heard is you have to go to college to make it. Um, we've heard that for years, and I think that has impacted uh the mentors, which are called mom and dad, of where they suggest their child might go through. I have three kids Uh, 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 apprenticeships. Seventeen, two thousand seventeen, 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, uh health care, the list goes on and on. 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. Uh, I entered my apprenticeship in nineteen seventy nine, 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 IBW, which I'm so proud of, We have a ninety-seven percent 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 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 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 uh data centers. I can go down there and just by my graduation gives you the competency that you can go right to work, you know what they mean. If you're going to build some system and 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 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 with everything changes. Within the building trades, they pay for it themselves. They don't come to government saying, 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, um, Mister Ladd, talk to us about the registered programs, particularly in the building trades and why that is important. I just mentioned electrical. Electricity is the same here as it is out west, but the carpenters, everything else, why is this so important for portability?

I think, I think you really set set it well. Um, the standards that are developed by industry ensures that that portability. The registered apprenticeship piece means that the training, uh, 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.

Thank you. I assume my time has expired. I yield back.

Thank you.

I'd like to uh recognize my friend from North Carolina, Mister Harris.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, and uh thank you all on the panel uh for this very, very important hearing in the subject matter that we're talking about today. Um, this 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 fourteen two seventy eight. It 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 pro- system and provide additional resources to states additional resources to territories, to increase the capacity of registered apprenticeship programs and to highlight the apprenticeship's opportunities during the National Apprenticeship Week. So, Mr. Ross, I wan- I wanted to just come to you. There was something you said in your written testimony that I'd read prior to getting here this morning that struck me. And uh, 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?

Well, tha- 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 c- they come from. Lots of times there are 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 - we - we did is we made sure that our costs could be controlled. Higher ed has had fifty plus years of the assumpt- living with the assumption that there's unlimited debt without underwriting. And that's, I think, created 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 seventy-five dollars a month, and the rest would be covered by the the employer, workforce dollars, and and the like, Pell Grants as well.

Oh, that's huge. And the Trump administration has made a concerted effort to focus on outcomes,

Mm-hmm.

and not simply just completion in workforce development programs. And I think that's a critically important point. And I'd like to know, Mister Ross, can you share how the apprenticeship degree graduates compare with the traditional graduates in terms of employment and and their earnings outcomes?

Well, thank you for the question. At Breach University and at uh the other universities working with our National Center for the Apprenticeship degree, we're seeing stronger completion rates, uh stronger p- uh licensure rates, and - and wage gains. Let me give an example. Uh the - the average completion rate for someone with a associate degree

Mm-hmm.

when they transfer into a four year institution is t- less than twenty-five percent in two years. Uh, and in these apprenticeship degree programs that reach, it's well over seventy percent within two years.

Wow.

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 seventy percent of the applicants chose the apprenticeship pathway so we're beginning to see in the emergence of this model really solid data

Mm.

and I certainly hope it grows.

Well those are definitely significant. Uh Miss 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

Sure.

thank you for the question i appreciate that um you know we're 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 um we have a a model set up for anyone to embrace but it's about the people in that location cars are everywhere

hmm

we should be able to train anywhere and get you close to where you wanna live We operate currently in several rural communities where there may not be access to some higher education,

Mm-hmm.

so it becomes even more critical in those communities that we have our own program, our own people, and able to create that journey for those apprentices.

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 and our time's about out, the impact that hub has had in moving North Carolinians into the workforce in North North Carolina?

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 twelve-week apprentice program offered at that school,

Awesome.

through Calgary.

Thank you, ma'am. As chairman at times. Thank you. Like to, and for just my friend, uh, Grah- uh, Miss Grahava.

Um, thank you, Mister Chairman. Um, registered apprenticeships are the gold standard for workforce training, delivering an incredible twenty-eight dollars public return for every one dollar of investment. However, with national completion rates stuck below fifty percent, the growth recently plateauing, we must address the cycles of progress and disruption that these 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. Mister Ladd, as you have identified the reauthorization of the National Apprenticeship Act, along with sustained investment, stronger employer incentive 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, um, while federal grant opportunities has have successfully launched pilot apprenticeship programs, community colleges and local employers often find that grants do not foster um scalable or sustainable change once funding cycle ends. What permanent scalable incentives, such as robust federal tax credits or streamlined subsidies should Congress consider encouraging employers to permanently embed registered apprenticeships into their long-term business models?

Uh, appreciate the question, um, you know, a- a- as you know we are pivoting right now from a grant-based kind of approach to uh a pay for perform performance model that the department is moving forward on um 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 um people that were ready to to adopt apprenticeship, move it forward. But I think after about ten years now, we were ready to to try new approaches. We're trying to pay for performance. Um I think that's gonna be important that we look at the results and the outcomes from that. and whether that's sufficient and whether there's sufficient resources uh to support that to scale. And if not, maybe tax incentives are are a a a better way to do that. Um, but I think you have to pair both the demand driver, whether that is i- uh a tax credit or pay for performance, with really solid technical assistance and uh I also wanna uh 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 apprentice uh employers to s- to engage in apprenticeship programs to reach scale uh and ultimately also about sustainability.

Yeah, I appreciate your openness to exploring and 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 um one of the things that I've 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.

Mm-hmm.

We just we sorta set up these programs and then continue

Mm-hmm.

to fund those same programs regardless of the demand.

Mm-hmm.

And that I think is where we really need to work more closely with our K-twelve systems and um non-profit organizations,

Yep.

um in being able to pivot and that's where I think our community colleges can be really helpful too.

Yep. A- a- and to that point, I mean we talk about the the great impact that um apprenticeship and uh the construction industry that relationship that's 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 out outside of construction. So it does show where there are incentives that work and are meaningful to the employer. The, you know, the market does respond to them.

I have like three more questions and we can talk a lot more, but I have like twenty-six seconds. Um, so with that I'll say, you know, I appreciate the important uh us identifying the importance of this issue in apprenticeships with a hearing. I think it's really beneficial, it's gonna benefit our nation, but also the fact that we can go at this in a bipartisan way, um to really um have the greatest impact. So thank you so much and I um

Thank you, I'd like to now to recognize my friend from Virginia, uh Mr. Scott.

Uh thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, Mr. Led, uh 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 d- say how - how the Department of Labor,

Sorry?

the registration process, uh guarantees the high standards?

So, the - 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 two thousand and eight regulations um which are very clear about the uh the the combination of on the job learning with related instruction that there must be a progressive wage there there uh that the credential must lead to occupational uh 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 uphold standards, but they also play a broader role across the system through technical assistance, support, uh investment in electronic tools and resources, uh to help move the entire system forward.

And can you say a word about um national recognition?

Sure, um again it's rooted in this idea that uh when occupations are deemed to be apprenticeable, uh 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 occupancy uh all of those competencies and that is now a portable credential that can be recognized across the country across the industry.

And we've heard how it's um affordable because you earn while you learn, you end up with no debt,

Mm-hmm.

so it's obviously um accessible. Uh are there uh these um traditionally apprenticeships are found in the building trades, are there other job categories where you could expand the apprenticeship model like healthcare

Yes. Every every industry uh could benefit from greater utilization of apprenticeship and and we have seen uh re- really tremendous growth. Um it's really in just the last two or three years actually the number of apprentices uh in occupations outside of construction is uh 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 has spread out over many industries. Uh, construction is still by far the the number one industry employing apprentices across the country. Um, and we're seeing growth in in every industry from manufacturing to IT, to finance, to uh, to uh, healthcare and others. And I believe that the apprenticeship model can be utilized in every industry for almost every occupation.

Thank you. And can you say a word about the importance of access to registered apprenticeships for youth and other challenged um populations, such as those involved in the criminal justice system?

Sure. Um, you know, as I mentioned earlier in in my testimony, um, you know, I believe it's really important to think about how these different program models fit together and that they can create pathways that can bring uh an individual from pre-apprenticeship through youth apprenticeship into an apprenticeship or a degreed apprenticeship and they really should not be seen as fracturing or you know splintering the system into these different models but that they fit together as a cohesive whole um and can provide access for um women uh underrepresented populations and and others uh that may be uh underrepresented in the current apprenticeship system.

And you mentioned accountability is an important part of a reauthorization. What uh measures should um we look to if we're gonna hold people accountable?

Um, thank you for that question. Uh, there is currently only one measure that is required through the uh the current regulations, and that is completion rates, and that is basically a system measure. Um, entered employment, uh, retention, and wages. are measures that we have adopted uh at the federal level because we have used those across most other federal employment and training programs, but they are not established in the regulations or in the law. So um the key measures of of wages, entered employment, retention and credential attainment at our minimum are some of the measures Congress should look at.

Thank you, Mister Chairman.

Thank you. I wanna thank my witnesses, our witnesses once again, uh and we'll now move toward our closing uh remarks like to recognize Dr. Adams for her closing remarks.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, and and thank you to the witnesses for um uh for today's discussion. It's been not only uh uh interesting, uh but certainly I've learned a lot. Um I've been in the classroom for forty years, uh but I realize that uh it's always an opportunity to learn. Uh just a few months ago I was on the campus in Arkansas, Arkansas Baptist College. and with um uh Representative Hill uh and uh one the the president there said something that was really interesting, it's it's a it's a uh they they they have a a program that um um allows uh young people to do, I think it's 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 listen to you all, skills to pay the bills. And so uh I I thought that was that was kind of a take on what we were talking about. But what Americans are fighting uh to pay their bills, uh to to fill their gas tank and to put food on the table in an economy that puts billionaires first and hard-working families last. And we should be focused on making it easier for uh for workers to get better jobs and earn higher wages to support their families. And registered apprenticeships are are really one of the best tools to make that a reality, so I really thank you for your comments. Uh, subcommittee Democrats and I welcome any bipartisan support for registered apprenticeships. But talk is is cheap. Uh, 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, uh, during this hearing today. Vital career tracks, such as nursing, uh, continue to face issues with with retention. Workforce training is necessary but - but - but not sufficient to solve the - the root problem. So at the end of the day, workers are struggling with poor job con- conditions, with low hours and low pay. Uh, a leaking budget - uh, bucket cannot be fixed simply by pouring more water in it. And so if we wanna b- booster our economy and truly support workers, then we must take, uh, care of the workers already in - in th- 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, Mister Chairman. I yield back.

Thank you. Um First of all, thank you uh for for what you're doing. Th this is uh uh uh the stakeholders that actually will be providing remarkable s results in the in the coming years. As we got together earlier, I I made a a a comment, something I heard recently, um Productive capacity equals power. Uh, I want us to keep that in mind. The last time we saw true cap- uh, productive capacity equan- uh, uh, equating to power was when our, my dad's generation came back from World War Two. They were given something called the GI Bill. You talk about a generation that got really busy. They went out there, they educated themselves, they started businesses, they built their families, and we saw the greatest middle class ever in the history of our country. from the fifties to the seventies. We're on that edge right now of doing the same thing, cuz we're now recognizing first a couple things. Um, uh, and I I wanna say that before we get into the power that we're seeing in this topic right here is the bipartisanship. Uh, we we get it. We realize that we have to get our kids ready to move out and go to work, and it's gonna come down to innovation from people like yourself, from our states, uh our um uh our administration, the Department of Education, particular something called the CTO connecting talent with opportunity. It just came out December, fifteen million dollar incentives for states to work together, to actually to work with employers, employees, um to work with states, um uh colleges, to make sure we can have interoperability, have the same common la- uh language. We have something called the Match Act that we're putting together that will allow these kind of conf- conversations where you can have portability. We can have somebody uh in a different state training themselves and that understanding of that skill set is now accepted elsewhere. We're at a point now we're having conversations we've never had before, and it's such a great time for our for our country, and our kids deserve it. Uh, we have the the sharpest, smartest opportunities our kids that with opportunities in this country cuz 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. uh at a time where we're gonna start to see more and more needs for what we're talking about right now. We're gonna be building a remarkable economy over the next couple of coming years we need to have our kids ready for it. So I'm I'm excited about that process. Um there are being uh apprenticeships are being portable, being verifiable, being verifiable, being trusted, innovation. So let's continue to do that. I'll ma- I'd like to make sure just an invite for myself, let's make sure we stay in touch. We'll make sure that over the coming year or so that we really are communicating on how do we make sure that our workforce is is doing the things they wanna do and they get the dream power they wanna have. So that being said, I really appreciate again you being here. Uh I'd like to thank our witnesses again for taking the time to testify for our subcommittee today. Without objection, there being no further business, the subcommittee now stands adjourned. Thanks again.

Good job.