On March 6, 2024, President Biden issued an Executive Order encouraging federal agencies to expand efforts to hire employees through Registered Apprenticeship programs. The executive order requires the Office of Personnel Management and the Labor Department to prepare a report with strategies for expanding Registered Apprenticeship opportunities within 180 days. The order also urged federal agencies to favor projects that hire individuals through Registered Apprenticeship programs. These recommendations come from the administration’s Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, chaired by Vice President Kamala Harris who delivered remarks in Wisconsin at a Metro Transit site. The White House provided the following comment “As the Nation’s largest employer and procurer of goods and services, the Federal Government can be a model for the use and promotion of skills-based hiring, such as the use of Registered Apprenticeships, which reduces barriers to employment and attracts a diverse workforce to meet our Nation’s critical needs.” This comes two weeks after the Labor Department announced a $200 million grant program to support public-private partnership and Registered Apprenticeship programs.
