This report reviews the latest studies, reports, and documents on Registered Apprenticeship programs (RAPs) to help understand gaps in apprenticeship knowledge. It discusses the benefits of apprenticeship for employers, workers, and society; how the federal government invests in the apprenticeship system; and what we have learned from state efforts to expand apprenticeship. The report also reviews the evidence related to specific types of RAPs and discusses the effectiveness of program models and strategies, and potentially promising practices.

The Evaluating Registered Apprenticeship Initiatives project aims to build evidence on efforts to expand and diversify RAPs by evaluating strategies under the Apprenticeship Building America (ABA) grants program, conducting an impact and cost-benefit evaluability assessment of pre-registered apprenticeship programs that lead to RAPs, and coordinating across the portfolio of projects at CEO to facilitate sharing of findings, methods, and learning about apprenticeship.

Despite recent evidence of the positive effects of apprenticeship, many questions remain about whether benefits are consistent across industries, employers, workers, and program models. Additionally, there is little rigorous evidence regarding the impact of pre-apprenticeship and youth apprenticeship programs, programs developed through community colleges and other intermediaries, and effective strategies to increase diversity among apprentices. DOL has funded research studies, including the ABA evaluation, that will build evidence on some of these aspects of apprenticeship, and more information will be available in the next few years as those studies release findings.