The Latest

National Apprenticeship Week always feels a little different when you work in this field.

For many people, it’s a chance to learn what apprenticeship is. But for those of us in workforce development, it’s something else entirely. It’s a moment to reflect on what we’ve seen work again and again in communities across the country.

And in many ways, we’re part of a story that goes back to the very beginning of the American workforce.

Apprenticeship has been part of this country since the colonial era, when young people learned trades like printing, shipbuilding, blacksmithing, and even brewing by working alongside skilled craftspeople. It was one of the earliest ways this country built talent, grounded in the simple idea that skills are best learned through doing.

That idea has endured, even as the economy has changed.

Today, the tools look different. The industries are more complex. But the core principle is the same. People learn best by doing the work, and employers play a central role in shaping that learning.

We’ve seen that principle in action.

We’ve seen apprenticeship open doors for people who weren’t sure where their next step would come from.

We’ve seen employers stop searching for talent and start building it.
And we’ve seen local partnerships turn into real, lasting systems of opportunity.

That’s why this week matters. Not just as a celebration, but as a reminder:

Even for those of us who have been doing this work for years, it’s worth stepping back and naming what makes apprenticeship so effective.

It starts with alignment. Apprenticeship meets employers where they are. Instead of asking businesses to adapt to available talent, it gives them a way to shape it. Training becomes relevant, immediate, and tied directly to real work.

It also changes how people learn. When learning is embedded in the job, progress happens faster and sticks longer. Research from Jobs for the Future shows that strong work-based learning models can increase productivity by 10–15%, in part because workers reach proficiency more quickly. That’s something we hear from employers all the time. They don’t just get workers, they get ready workers.

And then there’s retention. Apprenticeship builds connection to the job, to the employer, and to a career pathway. The data reinforces what we see in practice:

These are the kinds of outcomes that change how organizations think about talent.

Across the NAWB network, apprenticeship isn’t standing still. It’s expanding into sectors that are critical to both our economy and our communities.

In supply chain and logistics, the Supply Chain Automation Hub is helping employers rethink how they build talent in an increasingly complex environment. These are roles that require new skills, new technologies, and new approaches. Apprenticeship is meeting that moment.

In the care economy, we’re seeing something equally important. Through partnerships with FHI 360’s National Institute for Work and Learning, apprenticeship is creating structured pathways into roles like youth development, behavioral health, and community health work. These are roles that communities depend on every day, and apprenticeship is helping make them more accessible, more supported, and more sustainable.

And in the electric vehicle sector, the pace of change is hard to ignore. Through collaboration with the American Association of Community Colleges, apprenticeship programs are being developed alongside employers in real time. One example, an EV battery manufacturing program developed with Panasonic Energy and Kansas City Kansas Community College, shows how quickly apprenticeship can respond to emerging industries when the right partners are at the table.

Taken together, these efforts tell a bigger story. Apprenticeship is adaptable, responsive, and capable of growing alongside the economy itself.

Of course, knowing apprenticeship works and scaling it are two different things.

That’s where NAWB’s Registered Apprenticeship Hub comes in. It was built with the field in mind for workforce boards, partners, and practitioners who are navigating how to expand and strengthen apprenticeships in their regions.

The Hub brings together what we need most:

It is not just a collection of information. It is a way to make the work more accessible and more actionable, especially for boards that are building or scaling apprenticeships in real time.

And with more than 570 workforce boards in the NAWB network, that kind of shared infrastructure matters.

If there’s one thing this work makes clear, it’s that apprenticeship is not just effective. It is essential.

It helps businesses stay competitive.
It helps workers build real, lasting careers.
And it gives workforce systems a way to deliver on both at the same time.

National Apprenticeship Week is a chance to celebrate that progress. It is also a chance to keep pushing forward.

Because we are not starting from scratch.
We are building on something that already works.

And when apprenticeship works, communities do too.

This National Apprenticeship Week, take a moment to move the work forward.

Explore NAWB’s Registered Apprenticeship Hub. Share it with a partner who is just getting started. Revisit it with fresh eyes if you are already building programs. There is always another opportunity to strengthen what is working or to bring a new employer into the fold.

Most importantly, keep doing what this field does best. Bring people together, connect training to real opportunity, and build systems that last.

Because the impact of apprenticeship does not happen in theory.
It happens through the work you do every day.