How Investments in Pre-Apprenticeship Programs Can Strengthen the Apprentice Pipeline

Background

As college tuition and student debt rise, apprenticeships are becoming an increasingly attractive alternative pathway to well-paid careers. Often called “the other four-year degree,” apprenticeships allow individuals to “earn and learn.” Program completion and industry-recognized credentials earned along the way lead to career advancement in industries ranging from Advanced Manufacturing to Hospitality. But, as they exist today, apprenticeship programs don’t work for everyone. Many apprenticeship programs are highly selective and have persistently low completion rates, limiting their impact on learners’ economic mobility. Learners aren’t the only ones hurt by high barriers to entry and low completion rates– many employers also feel the pain as they struggle to solidify their talent pipeline to meet their workforce needs.  

Employers, unions, and learners all agree that strengthening the apprentice pipeline is crucial to breaking this cycle of stagnant economic mobility and persistent talent shortages. However, stakeholders disagree on which supports are worth investment, and who should pay for them. 

Enrollment in pre-apprenticeship programs is one such support. Pre-apprenticeships are shorter in duration (often 6-8 weeks) than apprenticeship programs and have fewer entry requirements. For many learners without industry experience or foundational skills, pre-apprenticeships programs serve as a crucial bridge to apprenticeship by providing career exploration, teaching professional skills, and helping prepare for entry assessments. 

But funding for pre-apprenticeships is limited, in part because the benefits are uncertain. Unlike apprenticeships, pre-apprenticeship programs are not nationally regulated and can vary widely in quality. This uncertainty makes funders uneasy. And, since many stakeholders benefit from pre-apprenticeship investment, no single stakeholder feels uniquely motivated to bear the full cost of investment.   

This limited funding, in turn, restricts the ability of high-quality pre-apprenticeship programs to provide critical assistance for program participants– such as wraparound supports (e.g., access to childcare, transportation, living expenses, coaching and mentor support), which are critical to learners from underserved communities. 

Our team aims to launch outcomes-based talent finance models to address the market failure of inadequate pre-apprenticeship investment. By helping learners get (and stay) on the path to apprenticeship, we can support employers, unions, and workers in promoting economic mobility and building a stronger workforce.  

Goals

• Understand the most serious barriers to funding that pre-apprenticeship programs face.
• Demonstrate the value of pre-apprenticeship programs and make the case for increased investment.
• Stand up partnerships and launch outcomes-based talent finance models to fund pre-apprenticeships.
• Share learnings with the field to inform how stakeholders approach pre-apprenticeship investment to promote workforce development and foster economic mobility.

The Work

To date, the Social Finance Team has:

• Conducted research and interviews to better understand challenges with scaling pre-apprenticeships. 
• Completed a labor market analysis to identify priority industries and occupations.

Now, our team is forging partnerships to explore new funding models for pre-apprenticeships. The team will design and implement innovative talent financing, leveraging insights from other Social Finance partnerships involving pre-apprenticeship programs: 

• In Colorado, Social Finance’s Colorado Pay It Forward Fund partnered with the trade school The Master’s Apprentice to offer zero-interest loans to learners to help them pay for living expenses as they complete the program’s hands-on, no-cost, six-week training with options in a variety of trades. 

• In Massachusetts, Social Finance is partnering with Governor Healey’s administration on the Massachusetts Climate Careers Fund, an outcomes-based workforce fund to train unemployed, underemployed, and low-income residents for climate sector careers. 

Partner With Us

Our team is launching a research project to understand the primary drivers of attrition in U.S. apprenticeship programs and illuminate the most effective supports that help apprentices complete their training.  

We are seeking union/employer partners who can share historical retention data to help demystify the dynamics of attrition for their programs and contribute to field-building research. Key metrics of interest include retention rates for people receiving supports versus those who do not, costs of these supports, and costs of attrition.  

Want to learn more? Know of any organizations that might be a good fit as a research partner? Please reach out to Nadine Abraham at nabraham@socialfinance.org.