The California Department of Industrial Relations has joined together with both the Division of Apprenticeship Standards and the Labor & Workforce Development Agency to announce the release of the state's new plan called Advancing Apprenticeship in California: A Five-Point Action Plan which will work to expand the state’s number of apprentices to a half-million by 2029. This comes as a result of the new state budget where the state invests significantly in apprenticeships throughout the 2022-2023 calendar year.
The Five-Point Plan was created in response to Governor Newsom’s goal of serving 500,000 apprentices in California by 2029. This plan sets up the framework to meet that ambitious goal through new policies. These include refining state processes in many different sectors, addressing gender imbalance in the building trades, and creating more opportunities for youth through apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs.
“Apprenticeship is a key strategy for meeting California’s workforce development needs. With this new intentional funding and our roadmap for expansion, the State is creating equitable onramps to careers and opportunities for upward mobility for Californians.”
Natalie Palugyai, Labor Secretary of California
According to the California Department of Industrial Relations, the five steps are,
- Supporting regional and sectoral apprenticeship intermediaries
- Creating new apprenticeships outside of the traditional trades
- Improving gender representation in the trades
- Supporting youth apprenticeship for in-school and out-of-school youth
- Building pathways into the public sector
The 2022-2023 budget invests over $231 million in apprenticeship program-related spending this year as well as more than $480 million over the next three years. The new funding includes $175 million to create apprenticeship innovation funding for non-traditional programs, $65 million to create a youth apprenticeship grant program, $15 million to fund a unit that works to advance women in construction, plus an increase of over 30% to the reimbursement rate for training in building and construction apprenticeships.
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