Why Apprenticeships Are Taking Off
Date Posted: February 12, 2017
Posted In: Ideas, Workforce,
From CityLab: Twenty years ago, a manufacturing worker might have operated a machine on a factory floor. Today, that worker would need to understand not only how to operate the machine, but also how to program and maintain it. Similarly, many health care workers, such as medical coders and health information managers, now need to know IT as well as the basics of medicine.
“All our workers need to learn a lot more than workers from 20 or 50 years ago,” says Deborah Kobes, an associate director with Jobs for the Future, a labor policy nonprofit.
These added requirements are making it difficult for workers to keep up. The result is a skills gap—not just in the United States, but worldwide.
For the last decade, the Manpower Group, a human resources consultancy, has tracked the skills gap. It found that employers across the globe are facing the most acute talent shortage since the recession in 2007. Of the more than 42,000 employers surveyed, 40 percent said they are experiencing difficulty filling roles.
To remedy this problem, most employers focus on internal employee training and development programs. But another way companies can ensure a pipeline of workers with the right skills is through apprenticeship. There has been burgeoning interest in registered apprenticeships since former President Barack Obama pledged to double the number of them nationwide, to 750,000 by the end of 2018.