www.adaptinternational.it, @ADAPT_bulletin, 30 June 2014
Apprenticeships set for take-off: USA lands on the
LEAP Act
by Carmen Di Stani, Meysam Salimi
For young Americans, the new world is no longer the land of dreams, as the U.S. economic dominance would appear to be over. New prediction from the World Bank's International
Comparison Program says that China's GDP will surpass that of the U.S. later this year. This news is announced when “youth unemployment costs America $25 billion a year”, Rory O'Sullivan, policy director at Young Invincibles stated, in his report- The Hidden Cost of Young Adult Unemployment - in January 2014.
These together with the high rate of youth unemployment that is ascribed to skill mismatch, portrait a dark future that have turned into a nightmare for youth and government simultaneously since 2008 when that the US growth has stifled.
In a report from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, it was stated that by 2018 the United States would face a shortage of workers with recognized postsecondary credentials – shortages of 3,000,000 workers with degrees and 4,700,000 workers with certificates. Therefore, the U.S. government and the institutions for years struggling to reduce inequality and high unemployment through the creation of channels that can facilitate access to the labor market. Along with these efforts, to tackle the problems, in April 9, 2014, when there were more than 10 million unemployed, and about 4 million unfilled positions because of the skills gap, a new measure came into the effect to increase employment by exploiting the apprenticeship, the oldest form of vocational education.
It's called LEAP Act ( Leveraging and Energizing America's Apprenticeship Programs), legislative action designed by Cory Booker and Tim Scott, two U.S. senators who seem to have found the right tune in a bid to revive programs that can create up to 400 thousand seats in 21,000 registered
apprenticeship programs, which now represent only 0.2 % of all U.S. workers. The LEAP Act promotes economic empowerment by creating a federal version of the apprenticeship tax credit pioneered by South Carolina to help meet the demand for workers with advanced skills.
In addition to a simple measure, the LEAP Act stands as a veritable panacea designed to cure the severe occupational disease that is experienced in the new world, dealing with young low-skilled workers that businesses look them with indifference heartbreaking. By the same token, it aimed to give a new rhythm to a stagnant situation that begins to become more and more disturbing,
descended for too many years on the topics of "training and employment”. The LEAP Act wants to give voice to all those young people who are disoriented, insecure, scared , a little concerned, undertake the treacherous path that leads to the world of work. In a spasmodic attempt to put an end to this situation, the radius of action of the new legislative measure is based mainly on tax
incentives to those who wished to promote apprenticeship programs.
To understand how the LEAP Act operates, the following analysis is proposed.
The key points of the LEAP Act:
• Hiring an apprentice duly registered with the U.S. Department of Labor or by state agencies for apprenticeship, gives the chance to enjoy a federal tax credit;
• A tax credit equal to $ 1500 for apprentices under 25 years of age, and amounted to $ 1,000 for apprentices over 25 years of age;
• The resources needed for granting of the tax credit will be delivered through the reduction of unnecessary waste; in fact, it is through cutting printing waste, since it is possible to deliver the documents online.
The apprenticeship over the tax benefits:
A study conducted in 2012 by the Institute of Mathematica Policy Research across 10 states in the United States shows that those who had completed a regular apprenticeship programs in their career would earn $ 240,000 more than those who had not taken part. The report suggested the best way to ensure job opportunities in areas of high professional advancement, such as high-tech and
manufacturing is apprenticeships. In fact, the focal point of the apprenticeship is to ensure a consolidation of the skills of the student; it dedicates a wide range of benefits relating not only the educational environment, but also the wage and curriculum.
Apprenticeship: a contract in midstream
To exacerbate the importance of apprenticeships, the Brookings Institution claimed, the
protagonists of the next decade will be the "middle skill occupation", or professions that require more than a high school diploma, but less than a bachelor's degree specialist. It recognizes, in midstream, the apprenticeship as the most notable form of training can "shape" skilled workers, responsive to the needs of the dissatisfied skills demand by companies.
Therefore, to ensure that business needs are matched with employee skills, registered apprenticeship programs are an efficient way. In this way, the office of the U.S. Department of Labor, in
consultation with state agencies for apprenticeship, should establish a new assignment of credentials that can certify national skills acquired by the trainees during their training and proficiency.
Carmen Di Stani
@Carmendst89 ADAPT Research Fellow, International Doctoral School in Human Capital Formation and Labour Relations ADAPT-CQIA, University of Bergamo
Meysam Salimi
@Msalimi_Adapt ADAPT Research Fellow, International Doctoral School in Human Capital Formation and Labour Relations ADAPT-CQIA, University of Bergamo
