Virginia’s Registered Apprenticeship Program: At a Glance

As noted, Virginia’s registered apprenticeship program combines on-the-job training with related technical instruction across diverse occupations and industries. By registering apprenticeship programs with DOLI, sponsors obtain guidance from its consultants and provide data on their apprenticeship to both state and federal governments.

Registered Apprenticeship Summary for Fiscal Year 2021:

■ 11,781 active apprentices

■ 1,598 apprenticeship completers

■ 3,960 new apprentices

■ 1,614 sponsors of apprenticeships

■ 119 distinct apprentice occupations (by Standard Occupational Classification)

■ Median starting wage: $14.25

■ Over 80% of active apprentices fall within occupations most traditionally associated with skilled trades:

Construction and extraction-related (6,581)

Installation, maintenance, and repair (1,934)

Production (1,062)

Note: Data for FY22 was provided by DOLI, as RAPIDS public use data only covers the first two quarters of FY22.

Demographics

While the most common age of a new apprentice is 19, a substantial number of individuals begin apprenticeships later in their lives. Among active apprentices in FY21, the median starting age for apprentices was 26, and a quarter of apprentices were 32 years of age or older when they began their programs. Only 12% began apprenticeships after the age of 40. In terms of racial composition, registered apprentices appear to roughly mirror Virginia’s population, but the RAPIDS dataset is missing data on race for 11% of Virginia registered apprentices. An analysis of apprentice ethnicity is not included in this report as a majority of apprentices did not report ethnicity. Figures 2 through 5 summarize these demographic data.

White

Do not wish to answer Black or African American Multiple Race Selected

N/A Asian

Note: Fewer than 1% of apprentices identified as American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, or Other Pacific Islander.

Apprentices by Education Level, FY21

High school graduate (including equivalency)

Some college or associates degree

Ged

Participant did not self-identify

Not high school graduate

Bachelor's degree

Note: Fewer than 1% of apprentices had a master's or a doctorate degree.

Veterans Status

Veterans are represented among Virginia’s registered apprentices (6%) at a somewhat lower rate than in Virginia’s overall adult population (10%). Unsurprisingly, Virginia veterans begin apprenticeships later in their lives compared with those who are not veterans, with an average age at start of 33 and a median age at start of 31. Figures 6 and 7 summarize these data.

Youth Apprenticeship within Virginia

Within the larger registered apprenticeship framework, Virginia tracks youth registered apprenticeships for high school students who work as apprentices part time while working toward a high school diploma. These apprenticeships are structured in the same way as the adult model. The related technical instruction component may be delivered by the high schools’ career and technical education (CTE) departments or independently through the apprenticeship sponsor. The RAPIDS dataset does include information on youth apprentices, but the field that flags their status is not included in the public use file. The data VOEE reported on for youth apprenticeship uses membership data provided by DOLI combined with the RAPIDS public use file. DOLI recently began tracking youth apprenticeship as a form of state-recognized work-based learning, and Virginia is one of the few states in the nation that is formally measuring this category of apprenticeship participation. At the time of this report, youth apprenticeship is designated as either a Youth Apprentice (which means that the instructional needs of the program are delivered by the school’s CTE Division) or Work-Based Learning–Registered Apprenticeship (RA) Apprentice (which means that the technical instruction is delivered outside of the CTE curriculum as specified by the employer/sponsor). These two tracks of youth apprenticeship are aligned with the Virginia Department of Education’s High-Quality Work-Based Learning schema. For the purposes of this report, Youth Apprentice and Work-Based Learning–RA data have been combined into a single measure representing youth apprenticeship in general. Figure 8 presents combined youth apprenticeship participation from fiscal years 2019 through 2022.

Note: The two largest areas of youth apprenticeship participation are within construction and extraction and installation maintenance and repair occupations. These areas contain the majority of occupations that are more commonly recognized as the skilled trades. Table 1 provides the youth apprenticeship breakdown for federal Fiscal Year 2021 as provided by DOLI.

Apprenticeship Program Sponsor Structure

According to apprenticeship.gov, any employer, association, committee, or organization may operate (“sponsor”) a registered apprenticeship program.16 The sponsor assumes the full responsibility for administration and operation of the apprenticeship program. Sponsors can be a single business or a consortium of businesses. They can also be a workforce intermediary, such as an industry association or a labor-management organization. Community colleges and community-based organizations can also serve as sponsors of apprenticeship programs.

Sponsors design and execute apprenticeship programs, provide jobs to apprentices, oversee training development, and provide hands-on learning and technical instruction for apprentices. The programs operate on a voluntary basis and receive support from DOLI and by collaborating with community-based organizations, educational institutions, the workforce system, and other stakeholders.17

Within the RAPIDS dataset there are four apprenticeship program types for categorizing sponsors of registered apprenticeship within Virginia. These are defined as:

Individual Non-Joint: One employer is responsible for managing the apprenticeship program, and no union is involved.

Individual Joint: The apprenticeship program is managed by a joint apprenticeship committee representing both employees and a union with one employer.

Group Joint: The apprenticeship program is managed by a joint apprenticeship committee representing both employees and a union with multiple employers involved.

Group Non-Joint: No Union is involved in the management of the apprenticeship program, but multiple employers are involved.

Registered Apprenticeship Sponsor Industries and Occupational Groups

Table 3 shows the self-reported industries of sponsors of active registered apprentices in FY21. A sponsor of registered apprenticeships may sponsor apprentices across several occupational groups, even if the apprentices’ occupations are not directly related to the core activities of the sponsor’s industry. For example, many sponsors in the educational services sector are community colleges or school systems that sponsor apprentices in a wide range of occupations that are unrelated to education or instruction.

Some sponsors do not declare an industry when reporting their registered apprenticeship program’s activity. Table 4 reports the occupations associated with these undeclared sponsors. Construction and extraction occupations are the largest occupational category where sponsors have not declared an industry.

Table 5 presents the distribution of registered apprenticeship activity by occupation and active apprentices for Fiscal Year 2021. Over 80% of active apprentices fall within occupations most traditionally associated with skilled trades: construction and extraction-related; installation, maintenance, and repair; and production occupations.

Apprenticeship Participation by Region

Registered apprentices work throughout the state, although they are concentrated in the population and economic centers of Hampton Roads, Virginia’s Capital Region, and Northern Virginia. Table 6 presents the geographic breakdown of apprentices by each of the 15 LWDAs within Virginia and where the sponsor of the apprentices’ program is located. Generally, the LWDA corresponds to the apprentice’s place of employment and residence, but sponsors may work with apprentices who work at multiple sites across multiple regions. A small number of sponsors register their program in Virginia despite being headquartered in neighboring states. Apprentices could be looked at using a variety of different geographic schemes. LWDAs were chosen for this report, because the primary audience is the Virginia Board of Workforce Development.

This paper provides a brief look at the current state of registered apprenticeship in Virginia in response to House Bill 718 (Filler-Corn)/Senate Bill 661 (Lucas). The VOEE teams hopes this analysis will be useful to the Virginia Board of Workforce Development, DOLI, the Department of Education, and the Secretaries of Labor, Education, and Commerce and Trade in their review of registered apprenticeships in the Commonwealth.