The workforce solution employers keep overlooking

At a time when employers are struggling to fill roles, questioning the value of traditional degrees, and searching for more reliable talent pipelines, one of the most effective workforce solutions has been here all along.

At least according to Maria Flynn, President and CEO of Jobs for the Future, who argues that apprenticeships may be one of the most overlooked solutions in today’s labor market.

“There's a strong business case for both the employer and for the worker,” she said.

Long associated with construction sites and skilled trades, apprenticeships are quietly expanding into fields like healthcare, finance, advanced manufacturing, and even technology, Flynn said. They offer a way to train workers on the job, align skills directly to business needs and build talent from within.

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That value isn’t just theoretical. Robert Lerman, Chairman of the Board for Apprenticeships for America, said apprenticeships fundamentally change how workers gain skills and how employers build talent.

“With apprenticeships, you don’t have that risk of spending money and foregoing earnings while you’re training,” he said. “It’s a job as well as a place where you gain skills.”

Yet despite growing interest and strong outcomes, they remain widely underused outside their traditional roots. In a labor force of roughly 160 million people, only about 700,000 Americans are currently enrolled in a Registered Apprenticeship program.

At the same time, the outcomes are hard to ignore. Apprentices earn an average annual salary of $84,000, compared to a national average of $66,000, and see lifetime earnings roughly $300,000 higher than their peers, according to data from the U.S. Registered Apprenticeship system.

For employers, the return is equally compelling. A U.S. Department of Labor evaluation found that every $100 invested in apprenticeship generates roughly $144 in benefits through higher productivity, reduced turnover and lower recruiting costs.

That gap between results and adoption is raising a more pointed question. If apprenticeships are this effective, why are so many organizations still treating them as a niche solution?

Part of the answer lies in the difference between interest and implementation, between agreeing that apprenticeships matter and actually building the systems to support them.

“Support for apprenticeship and the systems that are needed to build apprenticeship, those are different things,” Flynn said. “Even when we see bipartisan consensus and strong employer interest, there’s still a system that has a lot of friction in it that keeps adoption low.”

If it works, why aren’t employers using it?

For many employers, apprenticeships remain something they have heard about rather than something they have seriously considered. Outside of the trades, where the model has long been embedded, awareness is still catching up to reality.

That unfamiliarity often translates into hesitation. Lerman said many employers continue to default to familiar hiring practices, even when those approaches fall short.

“They’re used to a standard operating system, which is to hire from the market, do some informal training at work and muddle through,” he said.

Even when employers are interested, the path forward can feel unclear. Flynn pointed to the registration process as one of several friction points that can slow adoption, particularly for organizations exploring apprenticeships for the first time.

“In 2023, a third of employers said that the registration process itself was a barrier to starting a program,” she said. “There’s both a perceived and a real issue around the fact that getting apprenticeship up and running can be a bit complicated.”

Perception also plays a powerful role, Flynn added. Apprenticeships are still closely tied, in many people’s minds, to traditional trades, even as their use has expanded into entirely different sectors.

“I think if someone thinks of apprenticeship, they probably immediately think of a skilled trades worker,” Flynn said, noting that broadening that perception is key to wider adoption.

There is also the question of timing. Apprenticeships require upfront investment and a longer-term view of talent needs, which can make them harder to prioritize in uncertain conditions.

“There are startup costs,” Lerman said. “Employers are not always sure how many skilled workers they’re going to need two, three or four years from now. There’s a lot of uncertainty.”

From skills talk to skills strategy

The hesitation is striking because apprenticeships align closely with many of the priorities organizations are already trying to address. Skills-based hiring has gained traction, for instance, with companies dropping degree requirements and emphasizing capabilities. In practice, however, the systems needed to support that shift are often still evolving.

“We’ve seen a lot of organizations drop their degree requirements, but they haven’t always retooled their hiring and advancement systems to truly be centered around skills,” Flynn said. “Apprenticeship is one of the most credible answers to the question of, if not a degree, then what?”

Unlike internships or classroom-based programs, apprenticeships combine paid work with structured learning, allowing employees to build skills while contributing to the organization.

Additionally, Lerman said apprenticeships allow workers to gain experience while learning on the job.

“It’s a job as well as a place where you gain skills, and you’re learning in the context of the company’s own operations,” he said.

That context can significantly shorten the path to productivity.

“From the employer’s point of view, you’re training somebody to be highly skilled in an occupation, but in the context of your own organization,” Lerman added. “That can be a big advantage.”

Read more: Hiring isn’t the problem. Retention is

Apprenticeships can also strengthen retention, since participants are employees from day one and follow a clear path within the organization.

“There’s evidence to show that apprenticeship completers stay with companies longer because they were developed for those roles,” Flynn said. “There is very much a return on investment there that employers should be thinking about.”

Turning interest into action

For organizations considering apprenticeships, the starting point is less about building a program from scratch and more about identifying a problem worth solving.

“Think about the hardest talent problem you’re trying to solve,” Flynn said. “That’s where apprenticeship is most compelling.”

Flynn also pointed to the importance of not overcomplicating the process. Employers don’t need to build everything themselves, she said, noting that intermediary organizations can help manage program design, compliance and operations. She also emphasized that companies shouldn’t wait for perfect conditions before getting started, as the current policy and employer environment is already more supportive than it has been in years.

Flynn said support for apprenticeships is expanding, with intermediary organizations helping employers design and manage programs and policy efforts aimed at reducing friction. Even so, she noted that those changes alone are unlikely to drive widespread adoption without a shift in how organizations think about talent.

Apprenticeships are already delivering measurable results, yet many employers still treat them as a niche rather than a core workforce strategy.

What happens next will depend less on proof of value and more on whether employers choose to act on it.