Like many small business owners, Kim Thibeau, a Connecticut salon owner, has struggled to find young workers. A local school counselor helped connect her with high school seniors interested in cosmetology. Cosmetology students usually pay $25,000 to complete the mandated 1,500 hours of education and training requirements in the state. With the closest approved school more than an hour away from their town, Thibeau tried to train the young workers in her salon instead—providing them with an affordable, effective, and convenient way to receive the training they needed.
There was just one problem: Giving the students free training was illegal under Connecticut law.
The state allows apprenticeship programs for many other vocations, so Thibeau worked with State Sen. Paul Formica, a Republican, to pass Senate Bill 548, which expands these training opportunities to aspiring cosmetologists. Now young workers who cannot meet the state’s stringent licensing requirements have another way to gain the skills needed to find work.
As Thibeau said, “The cosmetology schools can be great for some people if it’s convenient and affordable. But an alternative path would be to do an apprenticeship in their community.”
As we conclude National Apprenticeship Week, a week that was marked by events across the country held by leaders in business, labor, education, and government, we have to ask ourselves: Why aren’t more industries using apprenticeships to train workers? Even with rare bipartisan support from politicians for this proven model, less than 5 percent of young people enter apprenticeships.
A new report authored by my colleagues from the Foundation for Government Accountability and myself points to one reason for the lack of apprenticeships: Restrictive occupational licensing laws stand in the way.
To follow through on their promises to expand apprenticeships, policymakers should take Thibeau’s story and bring similar reforms to professions in states across the country. Doing so would promote job competency and hands-on training through apprenticeships, rather than arbitrary time requirements through licensing.
Embracing apprenticeships couldn’t be more relevant given the current state of the economy, where there are more job openings than job seekers. Employers have an incentive to invest in proven ways to train workers, and the Trump administration is working to ensure that these apprenticeships are as efficient and accessible as possible to empower people to take advantage of this booming economy. It should be just as easy for an entrepreneur like Thibeau to offer an apprenticeship as it is for a large company to do so.
Tennessee took a major step to expand apprenticeships in the state in 2018 with a bill sponsored by state Sen. Kerry Roberts, a Republican. The new law requires licensing boards to grant occupational licenses to applicants who have completed an apprenticeship under a licensed professional and passed any required exam.
Nothing in this reform requires the state to create or fund any additional apprenticeships, as the goal is to expand private-sector participation. As employers build out the infrastructure to attract young workers, this proven training model will undoubtedly make it easier for people to enter the 23 percent of jobs in Tennessee that require a license.
Expanding competency-based apprenticeships will make many careers more accessible and keep Americans in the workforce, so it’s no wonder that apprenticeships are politically popular. Look for more states to follow Tennessee’s lead in 2019 and expect more small business owners like Thibeau to be able to offer alternate paths to work through apprenticeships in the near future.
Jared Meyer (@JaredMeyer10) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is a senior research fellow at the Foundation for Government Accountability.
