U.S. Labor Department Drops Apprenticeship System Update
Elyse Ashburn
December 11, 2024
The rule changes aimed to increase worker protections and quality by requiring better outcomes data, streamlining aspects of the process for creating apprenticeships, and making apprenticeship more compatible with K-12 and college education. The rules would have been the first regulatory update to the system since 2008—and proposed many changes experts have been calling for for years.
But many leaders at apprenticeship intermediaries and think-tanks—both pro-labor and employer-focused ones—felt the rules might make too much change at once and hamstring growth. A number of apprenticeship providers and Republicans in Congress were especially opposed to a provision that would have barred competency-based apprenticeships by requiring a minimum of 2K hours of on-the-job training.
