As a gubernatorial candidate in 2018, Gov. Gavin Newsom made a pledge to create 500,000 new apprenticeships in the decade after taking office, part of his broader strategy to boost the state’s job programs.
He’s on track to reach that goal — with about 200,000 apprenticeships so far — according to a press release last month from the governor’s office.
But a few weeks after that, he cited a new and much larger number. “On the trajectory we’re currently on — this is an actual number — and if you want to have us back into this number, I’m happy to provide that information later: 624,895 apprenticeships, 624,895 that we are currently on track to achieve well beyond the 500,000 by 2029,” he said.
What changed? Nothing, actually.
The 200,000 figure represents the number of the state’s “registered apprenticeships.” To get registered, the state has certain requirements: most importantly, employers must treat their apprentices as employees, provide them with training, and pay them for the entirety of that training. Most registered apprenticeships are union-led and require years of prior education or work experience. Firefighters, for example, represent the largest apprenticeship program in the state, though the program is hyper selective.
Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for the governor, said the 624,895 estimate includes many other jobs programs, none of which are actually apprenticeships, according to the state’s definition. Along with the roughly 200,000 “registered apprenticeships,” the governor’s office counted people who participated in various internships and training programs from the state’s labor and health agencies, such as one grant that taught farmworkers how to increase recycling and composting. Those farmworkers received little, if any, direct compensation as a result of their training.
Many adults lack the work experience or education to qualify for an apprenticeship, said Stewart Knox, secretary of the California Labor and Workforce and Development Agency. He defended the governor’s recent estimates, saying that these programs, while not “registered apprenticeships,” still offer similar benefits and have fewer barriers to entry. “For me, it’s less about the goal, it’s more about the people we serve.”
Knox said the state is still on track to meet the campaign goal of 500,000 registered apprenticeships.
Billions in public money for job training
After Newsom’s election in 2018, Brent Parton was part of a team of researchers at New America, a left-leaning think tank, that devised a strategy on how to add 500,000 new apprentices by 2029. In his 2020 report — and in the state’s action plan, which he helped create soon thereafter — the definition was clear: only state-approved or “registered” apprenticeships counted.
“Are there unregistered apprenticeships? Sure. How many are there? We don’t know because they’re not registered,” he said. “That goal is about growing the registered apprenticeship system.”
In a state-registered apprenticeship, the apprentice is an employee both during and after their training. An official apprenticeship program also agrees to provide participants with a standardized credential at the end of their training, akin to a college degree, that’s transferable for similar kinds of jobs. Yet many of the programs that Newsom cited provide only pieces of that model, such as an internship that doesn’t guarantee a job.
“The governor is doing the right thing by setting a vision for where he wants to get to. I think the state is going to have to make choices about what’s the universe of programs that it’s including in that,” Parton said.
Nonetheless, he noted that California has made unprecedented investments in job training over the last few years — a total of $5.7 billion, according to Newsom’s remarks at a recent press conference. Parton said California is one of the few states that gives apprenticeship programs public funds to offset training costs.
“Regardless of what goal was set or where the governor is saying it is, I think what California’s done puts it on a really strong track to get there. Whether it’s 500,000 or 650,000 (apprenticeships), the conditions are really right.”
Trump, Newsom agree: more apprenticeships
Both Democrats and Republicans support expanding apprenticeships, but they disagree about how apprenticeship should be defined. A year before Newsom announced his goal in 2018, President Donald Trump issued an executive order, calling for more apprenticeships across the country as a way to “promote affordable education and rewarding jobs.”
Trump’s order gave employers more discretion to create their own apprenticeships, effectively wresting control away from certain unions and government agencies. Biden rescinded Trump’s order in 2021, while releasing a statement saying that he was expanding apprenticeships too.
While some of the programs that Newsom most recently mentioned aren’t registered apprenticeships, Knox said they were included in the tally because they offer a pathway to access those apprenticeships. He said the governor’s language doesn’t reflect any change in policy.
One such program, run by the nonprofit Public Works Alliance, used about $11 million in philanthropic and county funds to train roughly 600 youth to become emergency medical technicians and paramedics. The organization received an additional $21 million from the state’s 2022-23 budget to expand the training across the state.
Unlike an apprenticeship program, the students receive a stipend to attend class and because they’re not employees, graduates must find a job on their own. Alex Briscoe, a principal with the organization, said the employment rate for graduates is about 90% but that the wages for emergency medical technicians are low, about $18 to $24 an hour.
One of the most lucrative options for graduates is to become a firefighter apprentice, where the starting wage is often more than $40 an hour. Certified emergency medical technicians and paramedics get admission priority but that program is so competitive that even qualified candidates often wait years to secure a spot.
“Many of these young people face barriers to employment,” Briscoe said. Some are current or former foster youth while others have been through the juvenile justice system. The long-term plan, he said, is to partner with the fire department and create new apprenticeships, giving more youth a pathway into a better job.
This article was originally published by CalMatters.
