Parker Purifoy & Chris Marr at Bloomberg Law report the U.S. Department of Labor’s (USDOL) newest guidance aimed at easing administrative burdens for employers launching Registered Apprentice Programs may not go far enough to achieve the Trump administration’s lofty job creation goals. The three guidance documents told businesses they don’t have to adhere to strict requirements about the length of Apprenticeship Programs - and laid out expectations for the role of State Governments in the Administration’s efforts to balloon the number of participants. But people who’ve overseen workforce development efforts say the guidance doesn’t solve underlying issues with the Apprenticeship Program that keep it from being more popular. “For a program that has struggled for decades, I don’t think a handful of small circulars that address annoying or bureaucratic issues are going to fundamentally change the adoption and expansion of the model,” said John Pallasch, who oversaw the USDOL’s Employment and Training Administration during President Donald Trump’s first term. “The Department needs to lean into it and commit to fundamentally changing the program, changing how it’s perceived by employers and job seekers.” It’s the Trump Administration’s first round of new guidance around the structure of Apprenticeship Programs, which some employers consider to be too cumbersome to use. President Trump has signed an Executive Order calling for the creation of one million new Registered Apprentices.

To Read This Apprenticeship And Training Labor News Story In Its Entirety, Go To: Punching In: Stakeholders Urge DOL to Do More on Apprenticeships