While the average age of US apprentices is about 30 years old, the Urban Institute’s Youth Apprenticeship Intermediary (YAI) project helped stimulate employers to hire apprentices between the ages of 16 and 21. Apprenticeships offer workers routes to rewarding careers and help employers fill skill shortages, improve productivity, and hire a diverse and committed workforce. Most employers achieve positive economic returns, with an average of $1.44 for every $1 invested in a registered apprenticeship.

This fact sheet reflects key lessons for employers from Urban’s five years as a youth apprenticeship intermediary for the US Department of Labor.

Youth Apprentices Are Productive

Through apprenticeships, young people who lack work experience can contribute to an organization almost immediately. Apprentices’ productivity frequently offsets their wages, even early on. And youth apprentices are eager to learn and contribute, bring fresh energy to the company’s workforce, and are likely to stay with their training employer.

An apprenticeship gives young people a greater purpose for school-based learning because the workplace reinforces lessons learned in the classroom. Plus, employer wage offers for apprentices are likely to be especially attractive to young workers.

Regulations Do Not Limit Employers from Hiring Apprentices Younger Than 18

Employers need not face regulatory barriers when hiring youth apprentices. Except in a few occupations involving hazardous activities for workers under age 18, youth apprentices can perform the tasks required of any worker without raising workers compensation insurance rates or violating any federal laws. In one case (PDF), an employer facing a potential increase in insurance rates quickly persuaded the insurer to maintain existing rates.

Under the YAI project, employers hired more than 500 16- and 17-year-old apprentices.

Youth Apprentices Offer a Sustainable Talent Pipeline

Employers with recruitment or retention challenges may consider working with high schools and their career and technical education (CTE) programs (PDF) to establish youth apprenticeship programs. Because apprenticeships offer entry to careers, not just a job, they attract many young people, allowing employers to select apprentices from a pool of qualified applicants.

In Iowa, John Deere and its suppliers built a sustainable pipeline of engaged workers by collaborating with local high schools to find young people ready to learn on the job; work experience was supplemented by instruction at students’ home high schools and community colleges. A key advantage of starting apprentices in high school is that CTE programs can supply the related instruction of an apprenticeship program without cost to the employer.

Funding Encourages Employers to Start Youth Apprenticeships

Launching youth apprenticeship programs can be very costly, and incentives can be a vital resource for employers to start and sustain them. These incentives are akin to seed investments, enabling businesses to design and test an innovative strategy for meeting their talent pipeline needs.

Urban’s YAI project allocated 13 percent of its budget to support the costs of launching and maintaining registered youth apprenticeship programs through employer incentives. Apprenticeship programs allocate funding for various expenses, including mentorship and resources, and even to overcome barriers to retention for apprentices.

One standout experience from YAI involved Central Campus, Des Moines Public Schools, whose apprentices lacked reliable transportation. With the support of Department of Labor funding, Central Des Moines purchased a used passenger van, offering apprentices a way to get to their worksites and demonstrating that the high school and employers are committed to the students’ success.

Employers Have Opportunities to Expand Youth Apprenticeships

Join a registered apprenticeship program—or build one. For some small employers that want to hire youth apprentices, starting a new apprenticeship program can appear time-consuming and costly. One solution is joining an existing program overseen by a group sponsor that manages the administration, paperwork, design, and EEO responsibilities. High schools, joint labor-management programs, and employer consortia are gaining popularity as apprenticeship program sponsors.

Employers may also start their own programs and draw on well-documented and industry-vetted National Occupational Frameworks approved by the US Department of Labor. Other assistance for developing and registering programs is available from several apprenticeship intermediary organizations.

Prepare mentors for youth apprentices. While mentors are essential for all apprentices, knowledgeable and attentive mentors are particularly valuable for young apprentices, who often lack work experience. The Urban Institute’s mentoring guide describes what works well in mentoring youth apprentices.

A mentor teaches youth apprentices on the job while continuing to work productively. The mentor introduces the youth apprentice to coworkers and explains how the workplace runs, including informal norms and expectations as well as rules; advises the youth apprentice about work- and career-related issues; and helps the youth apprentice work through problems that may hinder their progress. The mentor also monitors the youth apprentice’s progress in technical competence, meeting productivity and safety standards, teamwork and communication, classroom learning, and the ability to diagnose and resolve problems.

Use apprenticeships to diversify your workplace. Under Urban’s intermediary efforts, employers have been able to draw on talent from demographic groups that are not well represented in their organizations. Urban supported multiple employers with strategies to hire from pools of previously untapped talent. Since apprenticeships emphasize skills over degrees, employers can attract unconventional talent and develop skilled workers from underrepresented groups, including people with disabilities. One striking example is Nautical Manufacturing & Fulfillment, which hired people with disabilities via a partnership with Down Syndrome Innovations to earn and learn in a registered youth apprenticeship in Kansas.