As Maine’s unemployment rate drops, wages are rising in our competitive labor market, especially for workers with skills that meet employers’ needs. Workers who lack in-demand skills struggle to find high-paying jobs. To overcome this “skills gap,” the Maine Department of Labor is focusing on providing workers with the right skills for our growing industries.
Throughout my career, my mission has been to connect good people with good jobs. Job training programs often are that bridge. But navigating between the available funding — with its multitude of restrictions — and meeting the needs of workers and employers can be difficult. Apprenticeship solves this problem.
When people think of apprentices, the trades or union jobs often come to mind when, in fact, many occupations and industries can benefit from this model. Any employer who needs to hire someone with a mix of hands-on and classroom training can provide this training with the apprenticeship model.
This flexibility opens up apprenticeship to hundreds of occupations: Information technology jobs are ideal for this earn-and-learn model, as are those in health care, automotive repair, precision manufacturing and more.
Employers with great workers who lack the essential degree or credential to be promoted are an excellent starting place to explore how apprenticeship assists in training and retaining talented people. Other recent occupations the Maine Apprenticeship Program has trained include welders, veterinary technicians, polysomnographic technologists, funeral practitioners, administrative assistants and police officers.
Employees especially appreciate the apprenticeship model. Workers earn wages while training, and as they demonstrate proficiency they get a raise. No longer are most apprentices required to linger at one level after mastering the skills taught there. With proficiency-based standards, apprentices can move along at a faster pace, earning raises more quickly and improving employers’ return on investment.
We sometimes hear employers complain that after investing in training a worker, the worker leaves. The apprenticeship model significantly reduces this outcome because a worker is employed and earning regular promotions during training, so he or she can see a future with that company.
Many Maine employers are exploring apprenticeship as a way to meet their employee recruitment and retention needs. In 2015, the Maine Apprenticeship Program served more than 1,300 apprentices actively working on industry-recognized skill certifications. Apprentices who completed their programs that year saw an average wage increase of 27 percent from where they started. Nine new employers began apprenticeship programs in 2015, ranging from small businesses to larger, statewide companies.
Employers also saw the benefits of having apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs. A pre-apprenticeship exposes high-school students to the employer. Sprinkler fitters at Eastern Fire Protection Services and Certified Nursing Assistants at Pen Bay Healthcare, Clover Manor, Lincoln County Healthcare, and St. Mary’s Regional Health System are occupations and employers benefitting from these programs.
Many others are partnering with our career and technical education schools to provide job shadowing and work experiences to students. Making young people aware of these opportunities, especially training that reduces student-loan debt when preparing for a high-wage, in-demand career, is an excellent recruiting strategy in this labor market.
I urge employers to explore every opportunity to keep our young people in Maine employed in careers that pay high wages. Apprenticeship is a powerful tool. Germany, Sweden and many other European nations have used this model as a highly effective and efficient workforce development tool for decades. Now is the time to expand this program in Maine. Not only can apprenticeship, if expanded in the right way, be used to train our residents, but it can also be leveraged to attract new people here.
Job seekers looking for apprenticeships need to connect with employers to identify what training is offered. Employers interested in learning more about sponsoring a registered apprenticeship should contact the Maine Apprenticeship Program at 621-5028.
We need every Mainer who can work to do so, and we need them to have the right skills in order to move our economy forward. We also need to attract more young people to live and work in Maine. Apprenticeship can help accomplish these goals to the benefit of all of our people and businesses.
Jeanne Paquette is commissioner of the Maine Department of Labor.