Registered apprenticeships may be very effective at delivering living wages, particularly apprenticeships in joint labor-management programs run cooperatively by unions and employers, according to a white paper prepared by a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a member of the Illinois Economic Policy Institute.
The report, which was prepared for the U.S. Department of Labor Chief Evaluation Office, defined living wages as “the earnings required to pay for minimum basic needs, including food, housing, transportation, clothing, and other essentials.”
The white paper studied apprenticeships between 2019 and 2022, which had 2.8 million participants in total. Joint labor-management programs trained 59% of those apprentices, while employer-only programs trained 41%. The union programs had a higher completion rate at 61%.
Overall, the study noted that registered apprenticeships are a key way to deliver living wages, particularly to construction apprentices. Comparing starting and ending wages of the apprenticeship programs, researchers found that only 35% of apprentices could pay for a modest two-bedroom apartment at the beginning of their apprenticeship, while 74% could pay for the same accommodations by the end of the apprenticeship.
“The data show that registered apprenticeship programs can help participating apprentices achieve upward economic mobility, but no data was available on fringe benefits, such as contributions per hour worked towards health insurance plans or retirement funds, which are important factors in delivering high quality jobs,” the white paper said.
Upward mobility is a particular topic of discussion for employers considering hiring those without college degrees. Skills-based hiring, for example, could change how employers hire and upskill workers, contributing to economic strength overall, experts have previously said.
Even for employers that do not typically employ apprenticeships, prioritizing skill-building programs could help build organizational resiliency and a solid talent pool, a LinkedIn report from last year said.
Notably, nearly 3 in 4 workers surveyed by Resume Now for a recent report said that they could only afford to pay their basic living expenses.
