As Nation Faces Record Unemployment, Bipartisan Group Unveils Legislation to Expand Apprenticeships, Invest in Workforce Training
The National Apprenticeship Act of 2021 will add nearly one million apprenticeship opportunities over five years.
WASHINGTON – Today, Committee on Education and Labor Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) led a bipartisan group of Members in unveiling a proposed reauthorization of the National Apprenticeship Act that would create nearly one million new Registered Apprenticeship, youth apprenticeship, and pre-apprenticeship positions over the next five years. The National Apprenticeship Act of 2021 (H.R. 447) invests nearly $3.5 billion over five years to scale-up apprenticeship opportunities, streamline access to apprenticeships for workers and employers, and expand apprenticeships into new in-demand industry sectors and occupations.
The bill is also led by Congressman Donald Norcross (NJ-01), Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01), Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01), Congressman David McKinley (WV-01), and Congressman Don Bacon (NE-02).
According to the Department of Labor, 94 percent of apprentices who complete Registered Apprenticeships are employed upon completion, earning an average starting wage of above $70,000 annually. Yet, according to the most recent data, only 0.3 percent of the overall workforce in America have completed an apprenticeship.
The proposal’s historic investments in workforce training would not only benefit workers and their families but would save American taxpayers an estimated $10.6 billion in the form of increased tax revenues from higher worker pay and productivity and decreased spending on public-assistance programs and unemployment insurance.