Whether you go online to get news or read a traditional newspaper, you are sure to find an article on the skills gap—the gap between the skills individuals have and the skills employers need. Most of these articles are good at pointing out the obvious, but what about fixing it?
Still scrolling for an answer? Save your time. We already have one answer in place. Enter youth apprenticeships.
Youth apprenticeships combine work-based learning experiences with classroom instruction, providing students another pathway to college and career. They’re an opportunity to earn valuable industry-recognized credentials, and students are often paid during the apprenticeship.
States can help make these opportunities available to more students in a number of ways. These include promoting the advantages of youth apprenticeships, funding these opportunities, providing dual enrollment support for youth apprentices and delivering technical support to employers and schools who engage or wish to engage in youth apprenticeship programs.
The benefits of youth apprenticeships are clear. So, why is this strategy not more widely available? The question is simple, but the answer is more complicated. Perceptions of apprenticeships in general don’t match reality. States, schools and employers need to do a better job at the following:
How can your state get started? Start by marketing the advantages of youth apprenticeships. Provide financial support to youth apprenticeship providers, employers and intermediaries for hiring youth apprentices. Fund dual enrollment opportunities for youth apprentices and provide reimbursement for youth apprenticeship-related expenses.
You can learn more in our new report Youth Apprenticeships in Action: Five State Perspectives where you can also read information from folks in the field who are actually providing youth apprenticeship opportunities.
Start, grow and replicate youth apprenticeships in your state, and perhaps we will see fewer skills gap articles in the future.
Youth apprenticeships are an effective but underused strategy for addressing employer needs and providing youth with marketable, in-demand skills in the workplace, college credit and wages. Learn how state policy has a large impact on the effectiveness and scale of youth apprenticeship opportunities from five states.
