BUSINESS/LABOR: “The Labor Department is enlisting the help of corporate executives, labor unions and governors to develop its policy of expanding the use of apprenticeships in the U.S.
The department will announce 23 members of the president’s apprenticeship task force on Monday, charging them with crafting a plan to expand use of the training strategy that is popular in Europe but little-used is most U.S. industries.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order signed in June making apprenticeships a cornerstone of his strategy to address a shortage of skilled workers…
Employers that uses apprentices like the programs because they train future workers for specific, in-demand jobs. Apprentices earn a paycheck while they train, often eliminating the need to take on debt to fund their education.
Upon completion of a apprentice program, 90% are offered jobs and earn a starting salary of about $60,000 a year, according to the Labor Department. Yet undergraduate students at colleges outnumber apprentices in the U.S. 26 to 1.”
-Eric Morath, “Labor Department Taps Executives, Union Officials for Apprentice Program,” The Wall Street Journal online, Oct. 16, 2017 07:03am