BETHLEHEM, Pa. — While not an expansive PennDOT project, the state’s apprenticeship program is designed to widen the road to employment success.
The Pennsylvania Workforce Development Association, in partnership with the Pennsylvania Association of Career and Technical Administrators, held the ApprenticeshipPA Collaborative and Expo at Wind Creek Event Center on Monday.
“What makes apprenticeship programs so wonderful is that they are different types of opportunities for people,” said Nancy Walker, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.
The event, which continues Tuesday, brings together stakeholders from across the state who are interested in strengthening the apprenticeship and work-based learning models as part of a workforce development strategy.
Speakers and attendees discuss the state of apprenticeships in Pennsylvania and share technical and practical knowledge on what it takes to launch an “earn and learn” model of talent.
Panel discussions center on sharing ideas on how to sustain and retain the apprenticeship jobs and recruit and engage a talent pipeline.
Its fundamental mission: Create different career pathways that don’t involve or require a college degree.
“Whether it's young people or returning veterans, or people who are reentering the workforce, or just folks who want to try something different, it’s a chance to earn while they learn,” Walker said.
“They get on-the-job training with family-sustaining wages and benefits that lead to a real career pathway.”
The apprenticeship program also allows employers to create customized training programs to create a pipeline of workers to meet whatever their needs are today and in the future.
Monday’s event marked the launch of the 10th anniversary of National Apprentice Week.
"It's an opportunity for them to get paid while they learn a skilled trade. And it doesn’t require a college degree."Nancy Walker, PA secretary of Labor & Industry
Walker credited Gov. Josh Shapiro for being a proponent of the apprenticeship program and for signing an executive order eliminating the state requirement of a college degree to hold a state job.
“The governor opened up 92 percent of the jobs in the commonwealth that now do not need a college degree for them,” she said.
“What he was really looking at is a way to not force young people to incur the debt associated with a four-year college degree.”
Walker noted that many people in the workforce have wonderful skills but don’t have a college degree.
“If we make the college degree sort of the entryway, it often limits the advancement of a lot of people who are just not in a position to attain a college degree,” she said.
According to Tara Lowe, director of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry's Apprenticeship and Training Office, the state has invested $36 million in apprenticeship programs over the past five years.
Apprenticeships are innovative training programs that allow employers to develop and prepare their future workforce, while providing individuals with a learn-while-you-earn approach to career development.
Apprenticeships include:
- Paid Job: Apprentices are paid employees who produce high-quality work while they learn skills that enhance their employers' needs.
- On-the-Job Learning: Develops skilled workers through structured learning in a work setting.
- Classroom Learning: Improves job-related skills through education in a classroom setting (virtual or in-person).
- Mentorship: Provides apprentices with the support of a skilled worker to assist and enhance critical hands-on-learning.
- Credentials: Offers a portable, nationally-recognized credential to be issued at the completion of the program.
Since National Apprenticeship Week was established in 2015, ApprenticeshipUSA partners — representing industry, education, government, workforce systems and equity organizations — have hosted approximately 10,000 events for more than 1.4 million people and issued over 1,800 proclamations in support of Registered Apprenticeship.
The feedback from those in the apprenticeship program has been positive, Walker said.
“They love that as they learn, they earn more,” she said. “They're earning the whole time. They're out getting hands-on training as well.
“There'll be a classroom day a week, and then they'll be out on job sites learning trades firsthand through mentors teaching them their jobs.
“And they love it. It's an opportunity for them to get paid while they learn a skilled trade. And it doesn’t require a college degree.”
