Coasting on Cash

California's industrial workforce gets a bonus injection

California’s Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) and its Division of Apprenticeship Standards (DAS) announced February 26 that $68 million in funding is available to boost apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs. The funding furthers California’s commitment to create career pathways for job seekers by supporting on-the-job training programs and employers who invest in the apprenticeship model.

“Apprenticeships are the gold standard of workforce training, and we have expanded this pathway to good jobs into promising new areas like advanced manufacturing, transit, and healthcare,” said Secretary of the California Labor & Workforce Development Agency Stewart Knox.

This large fiscal investment will help provide hands-on, real-world job training and remove barriers to employment. Of the total sum, $52 million is Apprenticeship Innovation Funding (AIF) intended to help grow and scale new and existing apprenticeship programs to meet job market needs within high-demand sectors such as technology and healthcare.

The remaining $16 million in funding comes from the California Opportunity Youth Apprenticeship (COYA) grant to boost youth apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs. The grant helps young people ages 16 to 24, who are often out of school or unemployed.