Business Leaders and Legislators Promote Apprenticeship in Skilled Trades
MANHEIM, PA., MAY 7 — The Associated Builders & Contractors (ABC) Keystone Chapter, ABC Western Chapter and Independent Electrical Contractors (IEC) of Pennsylvania joined other business groups and legislators today to advocate for registered apprentices. Registered apprenticeships are high quality educational programs with oversight from both the Pennsylvania and U.S. Departments of Labor that confer nationally recognized industry degrees to students in the trades.
As ABC and IEC provide this training to hundreds of Pennsylvania apprentices, the organizations enthusiastically support this educational path, knowing more individuals want to join the skilled trades. As the business leaders that gathered today point out, there is a drastic difference in how Pennsylvania’s regulations treat different apprentices.
Since 1963, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry has set all apprentices at a 4:1 ratio (4 high-paid “journeymen” responsible for 1 learning apprentice). Unfortunately, for 90 percent of Pennsylvania’s apprentices, this creates an artificial barrier to being enrolled in a program. This is a result of the 1 apprentice being unable to begin their education without the 4 journeymen, creating a perpetual bottleneck in the construction workforce.
This barrier keeps many from not only pursuing a construction education but unfortunately deters many from continuing in a construction career at all. Construction leaders have been asking for a fair solution to the 4:1 ratio that sets all apprentices on a level playing field by establishing an objective formula that determines the ratio compared to the arbitrary ratio that exists today.
“The business community and those of us that are leading the construction industry have been begging the legislature to make a change to apprentice ratios for decades. The worker shortage we have today is projected to grow exponentially in the next 5 years. The only way to help that pent up demand is to also allow more of those interested in joining the skilled trades to start as an apprentice. The current regulation makes no sense and has never been articulated to anyone,” said Loni Warholic, Executive Director for IEC Pennsylvania. Warholic added, “Most of our members are small businesses with fewer than 10 field employees, and the current ratio limits their ability to take on multiple apprentices, making it difficult to build a pipeline of trained electricians to sustain their businesses long-term.”
Rep. Barb Gleim and Sen. Dawn Keefer have introduced HB 677 and SB 439 to set a ratio based on insurance data and the hazards that the apprentices will face on the job site. This helps all apprentices have a path forward for their education and helps small businesses grow their workforce.
ABC Keystone President and CEO, G. David Sload added,“ It is illogical and unfair to hold apprentices back by telling them they cannot join an apprenticeship program without 4 journeymen to oversee them on a job site. Pennsylvania is the most restrictive state for registered apprenticeship and cannot grow its talent pool without changing the status quo. It’s time to ‘get stuff done’ for our apprentices, as Gov. Shapiro would say.”