As the Trump administration champions for expanding registered apprenticeship (RA) programs, a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on RAs examines opportunities to expand these earn-and-learn programs as well some well-known barriers, such as administrative burden and cost.
The agency provided a general overview of earn-and-learn programs with a focus on registered apprenticeships. Its review identified at least 26 programs across five federal agencies (departments of Commerce, Defense, Education, Labor and Veterans Affairs) that could support earn and learn. It also noted some examples of past and ongoing coordination among federal agencies supporting earn and learn, including an inter-agency committee to support apprenticeships.
President Donald Trump in April signed an executive order with a goal of reaching 1 million new apprenticeship programs annually. GAO noted that the Labor Department and state partners oversee registered apprenticeship programs that enrolled about 940,000 people in 2024.
During her testimony this month before congressional appropriators on the president’s budget for fiscal year 2026, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer focused on the administration’s plan to expand RAs.
Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Michigan), chair of the House Education and Workforce Committee, and committee member Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-North Carolina) requested the report.
RA advantages
GAO noted that registered apprenticeships have historically focused on construction and trade occupations, such as plumbers and electricians. But they have slowly expanded in other fields, such as technology, advanced manufacturing, healthcare and energy. Administration officials have identified expansion to more sectors as a key part of growing apprenticeships.
GAO also found RAs were generally in high-growth and high-wage occupations, such as electricians and computer occupations. Specifically, of the 10 most common apprenticeship occupations–with electricians representing the most common occupation at 16%–six were projected to grow faster than the average occupation by 2033, the report says.
Nine of those occupations also paid above median wages for all workers, GAO said, citing 2023 Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Between April 2022 and March 2023, RA completers earned average annual wages of about $80,000 their first year after exiting their program. Those average wages were higher than those of associate-degree holders, according to BLS data.
The agency also pitched the financial benefits of registered apprenticeships, particularly when it comes to students relying less on federal student aid. One of the stakeholders in the construction industry interviewed for the report said that more than 300,000 apprentices in its joint labor-management-funded programs do not take on student loans to complete their apprenticeships. The report noted that a little more than one-quarter of the college career and technical education students expecting an associate degree or certificate have taken out student loans, and about half received federal grant aid.
Persistent hurdles
GAO also looked at barriers to employers using registered apprenticceships. They include limited awareness of these options among jobseekers and employers, as well as concerns among employers about administrative costs, especially among small businesses. It noted that some employers become motivated to implement earn-and-learn opportunities during worker shortages or when other pathways did not provide qualified workers.
GAO observed several federal funding pools cited by employers as helping to overcome certain barriers. For example, some employers said they have tapped federal workforce development funding to cover expenses, such as transportation for apprentices who faced financial hardships.
The report also observed that historically registered apprentieships participants are overwhelming White men, though the dial has moved slightly over the past decade as a reult of outreach efforts. For instance, in fiscal year 2024, among construction apprentices who reported gender or race, about 95% were male and 82% were White.
