When you think of an apprentice, an image of someone training to be an electrician, plumber or steamfitter may come to mind.
While traditional construction and trades occupations still account for the majority of apprenticeships in Wisconsin, new programs are being created to help fill workforce gaps in sectors like health care, education and services.
Over the past decade, the number of registered apprentices in Wisconsin grew 77%, from 9,872 in 2013 to 17,089 enrolled apprentices in 2025, an all-time record and the third consecutive year of record participation in the program’s 112-year history, according to the state’s Department of Workforce Development.
Registered apprenticeships are available in more than 200 occupations with more than 2,600 employers across the state. Some of the state’s newer programs include dental assistant, early childhood educator, workforce development specialist, software developer and coach bus driver.
“This isn’t your grandfather’s apprenticeship anymore,” said David Polk, director of the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development’s Bureau of Apprenticeship Standards. “More recently, employers are taking a look at the registered apprenticeship model … and looking at it as a model that can very succinctly train an individual up and skill them up.”
Apprenticeship programs allow job seekers to earn while they learn. Unlike other talent attraction and development models, Polk said, employers don’t need to wait for the job seeker to graduate from college or a training course to recruit them. Instead, they’re recruiting someone who is willing to work and learn at the same time, which in turn widens the pool of candidates.
Occupations that are considered “apprentice-able” are typically those that can be learned on the job and require complementary instruction. The minimum standard for a registered apprenticeship is at least one year or 2,000 hours of paid on-the-job training and a minimum of 144 hours of contextual related instruction.
New frontiers
The process of creating a new apprenticeship program starts with interest from the employer, who serves as the sole sponsor of the apprentice. DWD works with that employer to build out the on-the-job learning competencies and parse out the required classroom education, said Polk.
Health care is one industry in Wisconsin in which registered apprenticeship programs have grown as the need for skilled workers across the sector has risen.
Since the launch of Wisconsin’s first health care registered apprenticeship pathway in 2018, programs have been created for registered nursing, respiratory therapist, surgical technologist, ophthalmic assistant, caregiver, interventional cardiovascular technologist, medical assistant, pharmacy technician and sterilization technician, and more.
Youth and pre-apprenticeships
Wisconsin’s youth apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs both play supporting roles in the state’s registered apprenticeship program and its continued growth.
Though not required to enter a registered apprenticeship, a pre-apprenticeship certification can help a candidate prepare and stand out to employers, said Lindsay Blumer, president and CEO of Milwaukee-based workforce development nonprofit WRTP | Big Step, the state’s largest pre-apprenticeship program provider. Wisconsin’s certified pre-apprenticeship program has only been around since 2017, and today most of its participants seek construction trades jobs.
As registered apprenticeships continue to expand into new sectors, WRTP | Big Step is taking stock of what the industry needs, in order to determine whether it should build the apprenticeship pipeline “backward.”
“If an employer is engaged in a new apprenticeship program – for example, health care – are they finding the apprentice-able candidates necessary? And would a certified pre-apprenticeship be of value to ensure folks are ready for the apprenticeship? There may not be need for a certified pre-apprenticeship track for all registered apprenticeship programs,” said Blumer.
Wisconsin’s youth apprenticeship program, which was established in 1991, in some cases may play an even more direct role in the creation of new registered apprenticeship programs. Participation in the program has grown even faster than in the registered apprenticeship program – more than doubling since 2019 to 11,357 in 2025 – with more youth apprentices working in health care occupations than any other industry, according to a recent Wisconsin Policy Forum report, done in collaboration with WRTP | BIG STEP.
Polk said there is greater diversity in the types of employers that will take on a youth apprentice versus those that will take on a registered apprentice, so that often helps DWD get its foot in the door with employers who might be willing to help their youth apprentice take the next step by retaining them as a registered apprentice.
“It has been a successful strategy,” said Polk, citing data that shows the path from youth apprenticeship to registered apprenticeship has grown year by year. In 2024, 11.5% of all new registered apprenticeship contracts were youth apprentices. That’s up from roughly 9% in 2023 and 7% in 2022.
The Wisconsin Policy Forum report makes the case for a stronger connection between youth apprenticeships and registered apprenticeships: “While new registered apprenticeship programs are created based on industry need, there may also be demand to develop those programs for some occupations that currently only offer youth apprenticeships.”
