Why Should Employers Invest in Youth Apprenticeship?: INFOGRAPHIC

Talent is a long standing challenge for employers, whether they’re a business looking to grow and compete, a public sector agency facing a wave of retirements, or a non-profit adjusting to meet new needs in the communities they serve. Whatever the sector, staffing challenges are always evolving. As employers rethink talent pipelines in the months and years ahead, they will continue to seek strategies for recruiting young, diverse employees who look like the clients they serve, and who can contribute and strengthen their teams and organizations. Doing this demands timely and cost-effective ways to find, train, and hire new staff.

Youth apprenticeship is uniquely positioned to address the shared talent challenges employers face. Employers across a variety of industries have trouble filling new jobs in a timely and cost effective way and developing a diverse workforce of employees who look like the clients they serve. In addition, nearly 70% of CEOs and CFOs feel they need to invest more in developing an innovative business culture.

Employers in IT, healthcare, advanced manufacturing, business, finance, education and many other industries have found that youth apprenticeship delivers a positive return on their investment by helping them build a pipeline of young, diverse talent and fostering a culture of learning and innovation that attracts and retains employees.

Video link: Employers Share Benefits of Youth Apprenticeship

Still, many employers are unfamiliar with youth apprenticeship and its benefits or are unsure how to launch their own youth apprenticeship program. To help employers better understand how youth apprenticeship can meet a variety of their talent and business needs, the Partnership to Advance Youth Apprenticeship (PAYA) has created a new infographic.

The infographic addresses frequent questions employers have about youth apprenticeship and how it works. While the infographic is a good starting point for employers, local and regional intermediaries are important for engaging employers to develop and expand youth apprenticeship programs. Intermediaries connect K-12 education, postsecondary education, and industry partners to manage the student’s journey along the youth apprenticeship pathway. Intermediary organizations across the country--including those in the PAYA Network-- are working to improve awareness of and access to high-quality apprenticeship opportunities and stand ready to collaborate with willing employers. As Noel Ginsburg, Founder and CEO of CareerWise Colorado writes in his blog about industry-driven youth apprenticeship, “It’s industry’s buy-in that will make modern youth apprenticeship sustainable, career-oriented and meaningful in a 21st-century economy.”

Click here to view the full infographic.

Other resources:

• Messaging Youth Apprenticeship During COVID-19
• Business Case Study | How Youth Apprenticeship Works: Employer Perspective
• Readiness Checklist for Employers Considering Apprenticeships
• Infographic | Visualizing the Youth Apprentice’s Journey
• How States Can Equip Employers to Drive Apprenticeship
• Video | An Employer’s Story: Pinnacol Assurance’s Youth Apprenticeship Program
• Video | Why Should Employers Embrace Youth Apprenticeship?

We would like to thank Samantha Webster for the design and production of this project, and Riker Pasterkiewicz and Julie Brosnan for their communications support.

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