California’s apprenticeship programs are booming, thanks to increased funding and state support. While progress is significant, the California Community College Chancellor’s Office aims to do more. This report analyzes the current apprenticeship landscape, identifies promising practices, and recommends strategies to expand access, equity, and economic opportunity for Californians through apprenticeships.
California faces a significant challenge in meeting the apprenticeship goals outlined in Vision 2030 and the Governor’s call for 500,000 apprentices by 2029. Despite notable growth, there remain barriers such as sustainable funding, employer engagement, and underrepresentation of women in apprenticeship programs. The state’s education and workforce systems need to be more inclusive, ensuring access to pathways for all learners across diverse demographics, and creating exit points that result in family-sustaining wages while addressing community and environmental needs.
In 2018, California Governor Gavin Newsom set an ambitious goal to expand the apprenticeship system and serve 500,000 apprentices by 2029. Halfway into this endeavor, Jobs for the Future conducted an analysis on California’s progress to elevate its progress made and to share best practices gleaned from the field. Over the past 5 years, California’s practitioners have made progress expanding new and emerging apprenticeship programs. With a high demand for talent and the Governor’s commitment to a systemic overhaul of career education and work-based learning, the conditions for accelerated growth have never been better.
The number of apprentices registered with the Division of Apprenticeship Standards grew 11%, with 93,798 apprentices registered in 2023 versus 84,217 in 2018.
The most significant increases in apprenticeships over the last five years were in manufacturing (473%), health care (400%), barbers and cosmetologists (95%), and IT (45%).
The top barriers to apprenticeship growth in California are access to sustainable funding and employer engagement.
Innovations in employer engagement, apprenticeship models, and funding streams are demonstrating early successes, but need to be replicated at scale.
California Community College Chancellor’s Office
Our country needs to find an effective way to help young people from low-income backgrounds prepare for careers that offer opportunities for economic advancement—and the need for successful training strategies has grown more urgent amid the ongoing pandemic.
This pre-apprenticeship framework outlines the six key characteristics of a high-quality pre-apprenticeship program with a focus on the IT industry. It builds on JFF’s existing Framework for A High-Quality Pre-Apprenticeship and provides specific recommendations for aligning training in the IT industry and offers examples of promising practices for existing training programs.
JFF’s National Innovation Hub for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility provides strategies and customized support to employers, education providers, intermediaries, and government entities to drive diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in Registered Apprenticeship.