During this 8th Annual National Apprenticeship Week from Nov. 14-20, we celebrate the apprentices, employers, labor, industry, education and equity-focused partners, and the surrounding communities that make Registered Apprenticeships possible. This year also marks the 85th anniversary of the National Apprenticeship Act, an excellent opportunity to recognize the progress we’ve made at expanding, modernizing and diversifying apprenticeship while looking forward to some exciting new changes.
Today, I will join Secretary Walsh to kick off our National Apprenticeship Week festivities in Chicago with themes throughout the week that include registered apprenticeships in new and emerging industries; pre-apprenticeship and youth apprenticeship; expanding apprenticeships to underserved populations and women; and public service apprenticeship and veterans in apprenticeship. First, we’ll participate in a YouthBuild USA Town Hall to celebrate the power of Registered Apprenticeship to change the lives of youth. Next, we’ll head across the city to attend a business roundtable where we’ll hear from champion employers like Aon, McDonald’s, Zurich, and others about why they have decided to launch and grow their Registered Apprenticeship programs in corporate careers in technology, finance, banking, and other in-demand industry sectors.
Tomorrow, we’ll celebrate the culmination of the 120-Day Cybersecurity Apprenticeship Sprint that we ran in partnership with the White House and Departments of Commerce, Homeland Security, and Defense. Demand for cybersecurity workers is skyrocketing, and we’re proud of the progress we made in increasing awareness of the value of Registered Apprenticeship in this field during the sprint.
We hope you will join us at one of the 1,000+ events taking place across the country in honor of National Apprenticeship Week. We want to thank the event hosts for their support, as well as the 200+ proclamations that have been signed by partners declaring their support for Registered Apprenticeship.
Don’t forget to follow @USDOL, #NAW2022 and #ApprenticeshipUSA on social media for updates throughout the week.
Brent Parton is the acting assistant secretary of labor for Employment and Training.
Original source can be found here.
