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The United States Government Accountability Office, the federal government’s top investigative agency, issued a report from their findings on registered apprenticeship programs in the construction industry.

 

The report found that union apprentices were paid 24 percent more than nonunion apprentices when they began their apprenticeship, and they will earn 36 percent more when they finish their program.

 

This report provides strong support for using graduation rates as a measure of program performance. The report’s section on craft graduation rates found that union programs graduated 58% of their electrical apprentices who registered, while the nonunion graduated only 26%.

 

Individuals can enter the construction trades without completing formal apprenticeship programs, but many construction workers, particularly those working in highly skilled occupations that require extensive training, such as the electrical trade, receive their training through registered apprenticeship programs.​​​​​​​​

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Beginning apprentices’ wages generally start at about 45 to 50 percent of the wage of someone certified in a particular trade and rise to about 80 percent of that wage near completion.  This is being paid to be trained.​​​​​​​​​​

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