Earlier this month, Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) introduced the Senate’s version of the National Apprenticeship Act of 2023. The bipartisan bill, which follows a version introduced in the House of Representatives this spring, would represent the first-ever reauthorization of the National Apprenticeship Act passed in 1937.
As described by Senator Baldwin’s office, key provisions in the 2023 National Apprenticeship Act include:
- Providing resources for small- and medium-sized employers to develop their own apprenticeship programs to attract talent with the skills employers need.
- Encouraging the development of apprenticeship programs in innovative new industries like advanced manufacturing, cybersecurity and information technology, computer science, clean energy, or other in-demand sectors or occupations.
- Creating new and innovative rural demonstration grants for low-density areas with acute labor shortages.
- Improving wraparound services such as child care, elder care, transportation, and housing to help ensure that would-be apprentices can complete their apprenticeship training.
- Streamlining the apprenticeship application process, improve reciprocity for employers who operate apprenticeship programs across multiple states, and encourage groups of employers to work with labor, education, and economic development partners together to develop sector partnerships to develop career pathways for new industries.
- Providing resources for program sponsors to attract participants with barriers to employment and populations that have not-traditionally enrolled in apprenticeship programs.
