Putting Learning to Work
Apprenticeships create new pathways to economic opportunity and help employers close persistent talent gaps. It’s time for the United States to embrace their potential.
Why Apprenticeship?
Apprenticeships are the original form of “learning while earning,” enabling individuals to practice a particular occupation through hands-on experience, while also receiving a salary or other compensation.
For employers, they increase productivity and boost employee retention by creating access to new pools of talent. Because apprentices learn and grow on-the-job, they develop skillsets directly aligned with the needs of the business, while also building a sense of loyalty and trust.
For policymakers, apprenticeships are the solution to both economic stagnation and burdensome student debt.
For apprentices, they provide a debt-free pathway to career opportunity. Unlike other higher education and training programs, apprenticeships require minimal expenditures for the apprentices themselves, and offer a salary from day one.
However, despite gains in the last decade, the promise of apprenticeship remains under-leveraged in the United States.
It's time to change that narrative.
Our Mission
Our mission at Apprenticeships for America is to fulfill the potential of apprenticeships as an engine of economic prosperity.
AFA is committed to expanding apprenticeship funding, vastly increasing the number and scale of registered apprenticeship programs, and raising public awareness of these life-changing opportunities.
By 2035, AFA seeks to grow the number of Americans earning and learning as apprentices from approximately 700,000 today to over 4 million. This will widen routes to rewarding careers for workers and enhance American productivity, particularly in sectors facing significant skill mismatches — such as technology, healthcare, financial services, public safety, education, and manufacturing. It will also bring the US in line with peers worldwide in allowing workers to earn, learn, and pursue paths to economic opportunity.
