Emerging Occupations in Registered Apprenticeship
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Key Findings
- Registered Apprenticeship Programs (RAPs) are expanding beyond traditional trades, with significant growth in new industries such as education, public administration, and personal services, even as construction remains the dominant sector.
- Five emerging occupations—sound technicians, barbers and cosmetologists, housekeepers, corrections officers, and firefighters—show substantial increases in apprenticeship enrollment, each experiencing at least 10% growth since 2015 and more than 500 active apprentices in FY 2025.
- Apprenticeships in these occupations are helping address workforce shortages and high-demand roles, with large annual job openings projected for fields like housekeeping (190,000+ per year) and firefighting (27,000 per year).
- State workforce agencies, intermediaries, and national organizations are key drivers of expansion, using RAPs to build structured, work-based learning pathways that strengthen talent pipelines in occupations not historically linked to apprenticeship.
Registered apprenticeship programs have grown substantially over the past decade, driven by robust federal investment and coordination with state and local partnerships. Between 2015 and 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) awarded over $1 billion in apprenticeship grants to help strengthen apprenticeship programs and spur new program growth. The number of active apprentices has nearly doubled over the past decade, growing from roughly 360,000 apprentices in 2015 to almost 700,000 active apprentices in the past year.
This fact sheet highlights five occupations that have recently seen growth in the number of registered apprentices in related training programs. State apprenticeship staff, apprentice intermediaries, and employers can look to these occupations as useful examples of how expanding apprenticeships can strengthen talent pipelines in occupations that may not have historical ties to apprenticeship.
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