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 demand for highly skilled workers, Governor Tom Wolf continued the rollout of his groundbreaking PAsmart initiative, announcing $10.8 million in PAsmart Advancing Grants to expand access to computer science and STEM education for Pennsylvania learners. Combined with PAsmart Targeted Grants, the Wolf administration has awarded $20 million to bolster STEM and computer science (CS) in schools and $20 million to support PAsmart Apprenticeship Grants, Next Generation Industry Partnerships and career and technical education. The number of new apprentices in Pennsylvania annually has tripled to more than 4,700 since the Wolf administration launched the Apprenticeship and Training Office (ATO) in 2016.

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.