Building a robust apprenticeship system in the US: why and how?

Apprenticeship expansion has become a bipartisan goal, endorsed and acted upon by President Trump at the beginning of his term and President Obama toward the end of his two terms. This paper begins by defining apprenticeships and then discusses 'why' apprenticeship can be an especially cost-effective approach to increasing skills, productivity, and ultimately wages. At this point, with the increasing acceptance of the rationale for expanding apprenticeship, the paper turns to the 'how' questions. Is it feasible to scale up the US system to reach numbers comparable to those in Australia...  [+] Show more

Apprenticeship expansion has become a bipartisan goal, endorsed and acted upon by President Trump at the beginning of his term and President Obama toward the end of his two terms. This paper begins by defining apprenticeships and then discusses 'why' apprenticeship can be an especially cost-effective approach to increasing skills, productivity, and ultimately wages. At this point, with the increasing acceptance of the rationale for expanding apprenticeship, the paper turns to the 'how' questions. Is it feasible to scale up the US system to reach numbers comparable to those in Australia and England while maintaining high quality? If so, what steps are required to do so?; Edited excerpt from publication.