Absence of conflict of interest.
Citation
Highlights
- The study's objective was to examine the impact of registered apprenticeships on employment and earnings for dislocated workers.
- This study used a nonexperimental design to compare the outcomes of individuals who participated in a registered apprenticeship program to a matched group of individuals who did not. The primary data sources were programmatic records from the North Carolina Department of Labor and Unemployment Insurance administrative data. The author used statistical models to compare long-term outcomes between the groups.
- The study found that registered apprenticeship participation had a significant long-term positive impact on employment and earnings for all nine years of follow-up.
- This study receives a moderate evidence rating. This means we are somewhat confident that the estimated effects are attributable to registered apprenticeships, but other factors might also have contributed.
Features of the Study
Apprenticeships are paid work experiences, with employment offered through an employer in a specific industry and technical instruction in their field of choice. Completing an apprenticeship yields a credential of some kind, but specific requirements apply to individual programs. Apprenticeships target any working aged adult, but this study focused workers displaced during the Great Recession.
The study was a nonexperimental design conducted in North Carolina. The author used state administrative and unemployment insurance data to identify a group of workers who had lost their jobs between January 2008 and December 2010. Individuals who enrolled in a registered apprenticeship program after losing their jobs served as the treatment group and individuals who did not enroll in a registered apprenticeship program served as the comparison group. The treatment group members were matched with comparison group members on gender, race, age, pre-dislocation earnings and work history, tenure, and industry within their own county. The treatment group included 219 individuals who enrolled in an apprenticeship program and received applicable work training within one year of their dislocation from their previous employer. The comparison group included 219 individuals who did not enroll in a registered apprenticeship within one year of their dislocation. The majority of the study sample were male (86%), White (73%), under age 35 (60%), and resided outside of the state's most populous counties (81%). However, the treatment group had higher rates of previous employment in construction than the comparison group (29% vs. 24%).
The study used two primary data sources. The first was the state apprenticeship agency programmatic records from the North Carolina Department of Labor. The second data source, Unemployment Insurance (UI) administrative data, provided demographic variables and dislocation date, as well as industry of previous employment. The author used statistical models to compare differences in outcomes between the treatment and comparison groups nine years after displacement.
Findings
Employment
- The study found that treatment group members were significantly more likely than comparison group members to be employed one year after dislocation (31.1 percentage point difference between the groups).
- The study also found that treatment group members were significantly more likely than comparison group members to be employed nine years after dislocation (16.9 percentage point difference between the groups).
Earnings and wages
- The study found that participating in registered apprenticeships led to a significant increase in earnings relative to comparison group members, where treatment group members earned $14,028 more in year one, $16,668 more in year two with the advantage in earnings steadily decreasing to $9,961 more for in year nine.
Considerations for Interpreting the Findings
The author notes that while the study found a long-term impact of registered apprenticeship programs on labor market outcomes, it does not specify the specific components that led to the findings (e.g., on-the-job training, technical instruction, earned credentials). Also, generalizability of findings are limited as the study was conducted in one state.
Causal Evidence Rating
The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is moderate because it was based on a well-implemented nonexperimental design. This means we are somewhat confident that the estimated effects are attributable to registered apprenticeship programs, but other factors might also have contributed.