Policy Memo
Topline
Apprenticeships should be freed from red tape and union protectionism so that they can expand into new occupations, providing more opportunities and higher incomes.
Affordability 101 · Chapter 3: Freedom to Work and Enterprise
Plymouth Institute for Free Enterprise
Apprenticeships should be freed from red tape and union protectionism so that they can expand into new occupations, providing more opportunities and higher incomes.
Apprenticeships are a proven pathway for people to gain on-the-job education for successful careers while receiving paychecks instead of paying tuition. Unfortunately, the federal Registered Apprenticeship Program, which was two pages of law in 1937, now spans hundreds of pages of regulations, guidance, forms, and other requirements. This red tape has prevented apprenticeships from expanding outside the male- and union-dominated trades. A 2017 Harvard study estimated that the number of occupations commonly filled through apprenticeships could nearly triple, jobs filled through apprenticeships could expand eightfold, and apprenticeship wages could be 20% higher.
In 2017, the Trump-Pence administration created an Industry Recognized Apprenticeship Program (IRAP) to open new apprenticeship doors and better align them with industry needs. Within a few years, about 130 IRAPs were created with many focused on developing workers for the nursing profession. Despite the promise of IRAPs, the Biden administration canceled them and instead issued hundreds of pages of proposed new apprenticeship regulations. Congress should codify apprenticeship expansions to reduce education costs, increase incomes, and reduce prices for goods and services that could be produced by apprenticeship graduates.
Related Legislation: Training America’s Workforce Act (S. 1213 [118th Congr.]); Apprenticeship Freedom Act (H.R. 8178 [118th Congr.]); Reducing Arbitrary Barriers to Apprenticeship Act of 2026 (S. 3993).
Removing government barriers to new apprenticeships would drastically reduce education costs, open more pathways to successful and in-demand careers, and reduce price increases for consumers.
This memo is part of Affordability 101, Advancing American Freedom’s playbook of 101 policy solutions to make life more affordable.