Create career pathways to fast-growing, 21st century jobs

The demand for highly skilled workers in Pennsylvania continues to increase in an ever-changing economic environment. Putting Pennsylvanians on pathways to good-paying, 21st-century careers through education and skills training will help close our state's skills gap and strengthen families and communities. Investments in workforce development programs like apprenticeships benefit both employers and workers. Employers see reduced turnover, lower training costs, and improved productivity, while workers have the opportunity to earn a paycheck and receive hands-on training and instruction that lead to highly respected careers.

To meet the projected demand for highly skilled workers, Governor Wolf launched PAsmart – a statewide movement for accountability, readiness, and training – to help students and workers prepare for the jobs of today and tomorrow. As part of this initiative, Governor Wolf secured $7 million in consecutive budgets to expand the number of apprenticeships in Pennsylvania. He announced the approval of new funding for the Western Pennsylvania Chapter of Electrical Apprenticeship Corporation's Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee (JATC), which is working to fill the steadily growing need for electricians in construction. The Wolf administration has also created the Apprenticeship and Training Office (ATO) to support and grow apprenticeship programs in the commonwealth.

Governor Wolf has set a goal to increase the number of apprentices in Pennsylvania to 30,000 by 2025. The graphic below reports data on our progress as of June 2019.