Curbing the shortage of skilled workers across the country requires more robust awareness outreach to youth and focus on expanding registered apprenticeships as a workforce development strategy, according to a panel of witnesses who spoke before the House Small Business Committee this week.
At Tuesday’s hearing focused on career and technical education (CTE), several of the witnesses said that the shortage of skilled workers is hurting all companies, but especially small businesses, which increasingly don’t bid on contracts because they don’t have the workforce. Refilling the workforce pipeline requires broadening awareness of career and technical jobs, they said.
An initiative in Kansas called Build Up Kansas — a public/private partnership that brings together policymakers, educators and the construction industry to focus on CTE — taps younger workers to visit high schools to talk about trade career options because they relate better with teenagers. It also uses social media to reach youth and has a robust website that includes testimonial videos, which include most of the community colleges in the state. (See video from WSU-Tech, below, as an example.)
“That has turned a lot of heads,” Mike Gibson, executive vice president of Associated General Contractors of Kansas, told the committee.
In less than three years, a total of 150 high school and community colleges have joined the initiative, serving 10,000 students in welding, HVAC, electric, plumbing and more — with women comprising 21% of those students, Gibson said. To fill the 58,000 construction-industry workers needed in Kansas, the initiative has also connected with four prisons, training 150 inmates in masonry, with jobs ready when they end their incarceration, he said.
‘Flipping the script’
Keith Gunuskey, superintendent of the Wallenpaupack Area School District in Pennsylvania, said there has been an influx of interest in CTE recently. Currently, more than 40% of the district’s high school students participate in CTE programs, and the district can accommodate only about half of interested students because of space constraints. (It is building a new career and technical center.)
Gunuskey credits “flipping the script” on CTE locally, saying CTE is no longer seen as vocational programs for non-academic or non-college-bound students.
“Our programs are driven by certifications and postsecondary accreditation, which allows students to bank college credits in high school, thus allowing them to graduate from college quicker and less debt,” he said.
Eyes on apprenticeships
The discussion at the hearing also focused on federal funding for CTE, which has dropped from about $3.5 billion in 1980, to about $1.5 billion in 2024, several lawmakers noted. Coupled with the push to attend college, secondary enrollment had flattened and postsecondary enrollment dropped by about 25% over the last 20 years, noted Rep. Derek Tran (D-California).
Tran and other lawmakers said registered apprenticeships could help reignite great interest in CTE. Tran noted that registered apprenticeships are one of the fastest-growing CTE strategies in the U.S., with the number of apprentices doubling over the past decade. About 94% of program completers retain a good job, with an average starting salary of $80,000.
Although the Trump administration is touting registered apprenticeships and providing new funding for them, the programs get only a fraction of the federal funding that goes to higher education, said Zach Boren, senior vice president at Apprenticeships for America, adding it amounts to $1 per $1,000.
He also noted that red tape and cost continue to hamper businesses’ involvement in apprenticeships, especially small businesses.
The most effective model for small businesses is a group employer-sponsored approach, where several small businesses share infrastructure and coordinate training and compliance, Boren said, citing North Carolina’s efforts through community colleges across several industries.
“When small businesses work together, they don’t have to build everything on their own. They train together and they grow,” he said.
