Business leaders push apprenticeship ratio reform

• ABC and IEC advocate for changes to restrictive 4:1 apprentice ratio.

• Current rules limit small businesses from training new tradespeople.

• Leaders cite urgent workforce shortages in construction trades.

Promoting skilled trades, the Associated Builders & Contractors (ABC) Keystone Chapter, ABC Western Chapter, and Independent Electrical Contractors (IEC) of Pennsylvania joined business groups and legislators Tuesday in advocating for registered apprenticeships. 

Registered apprenticeships are educational programs with oversight from the Pennsylvania and U.S. Departments of Labor that confer nationally recognized industry degrees to students in the trades. 

“The business community and those of us that are leading the construction industry have been begging the legislature to make a change to apprentice ratios for decades,” Loni Warholic, executive director for IEC Pennsylvania, said in a statement. “The worker shortage we have today is projected to grow exponentially in the next 5 years. The only way to help that pent up demand is to also allow more of those interested in joining the skilled trades to start as an apprentice. The current regulation makes no sense and has never been articulated to anyone. 

“Most of our members are small businesses with fewer than 10 field employees, and the current ratio limits their ability to take on multiple apprentices, making it difficult to build a pipeline of trained electricians to sustain their businesses long-term,” added Warholic. 

Based in Manheim, the Keystone Chapter of ABC is a construction trade association, representing over 670 construction-related firms and nearly 30,000 employees. 

According to a release, as ABC and IEC provide this training to hundreds of Pennsylvania apprentices, the organizations support this educational path, knowing more individuals want to join the skilled trades. Business leaders state that there is a drastic difference in how Pennsylvania’s regulations treat different apprentices. 

The Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry has since 1963 set all apprentices at a 4:1 ratio, with 4 being high-paid “journeymen” responsible for 1 learning apprentice. For 90% of Pennsylvania’s apprentices, this creates an artificial barrier to being enrolled in a program. This is a result of the 1 apprentice being unable to begin their education without the 4 journeymen, creating a perpetual bottleneck in the construction workforce, per the release. 

This barrier prevents many from pursuing a construction education and deters them from continuing in a construction career. Construction leaders have been asking for a fair solution to the 4:1 ratio that sets all apprentices on a level playing field by establishing an objective formula that determines the ratio compared to the current arbitrary ratio. 

To set a ratio based on insurance data and the hazards that the apprentices will face on the job site, Rep. Barb Gleim, R-Cumberland, and Sen. Dawn Keefer, R-Cumberland/York, introduced House Bill 677 and Senate Bill 439. The bills are aimed at helping all apprentices have a path forward for their education and helping small businesses grow their workforce. 

“It is illogical and unfair to hold apprentices back by telling them they cannot join an apprenticeship program without 4 journeymen to oversee them on a job site,” said ABC Keystone President and CEO G. David Sload. “Pennsylvania is the most restrictive state for registered apprenticeship and cannot grow its talent pool without changing the status quo. It’s time to ‘get stuff done’ for our apprentices, as Gov. Shapiro would say.”