Building Skills, Expanding Opportunities:
Apprenticeship programs are on the rise due to employer demand and proven results. PEAT is working with partners to build bridges between high-growth industries and inclusive apprenticeship programs to help create career opportunities for people with disabilities.
What is an Inclusive Apprenticeship Program?
Apprenticeship programs help employers train their future workforce and enable job seekers to gain paid work experience and training. Inclusive apprenticeship programs can go a step further by ensuring that current and future apprentices with disabilities can attain credentials and skills to succeed in their desired careers and job fields.
Inclusive apprenticeship programs help employers to build out diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible workplaces. Trained professionals and employers who invest in hiring apprentices with disabilities can earn major financial advantages through their efforts to pursue this form of inclusive work-based learning.
Employers who champion disability inclusion earn 28% higher revenue according to report from Accenture, the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), and Disability:IN.
Read more about why apprenticeship programs are important.
Why is Accessibility Essential?
Accessibility is essential to inclusion, ensuring apprenticeships are accessible to all job seekers. By design, Inclusive apprenticeships support full access, work accommodations and supports throughout all phases of programs—from the hiring process to training and methods employed by an apprentice’s mentor.
Partnership on Inclusive Apprenticeship (PIA)
The Partnership on Inclusive Apprenticeship (PIA) is a project funded by the Office of Disability Employment Policy in the U.S. Department of Labor. PIA advances policies and practices to drive inclusive apprenticeship programs that can foster career pathways in high-growth, high-demand fields and industries.
PEAT works closely with PIA to grow and enhance inclusive apprenticeship programs that are designed to be accessible and help build a more inclusive workplace of the future.
Technology Apprenticeships
The tech industry, in particular, is primed for apprenticeship success. According to a 2020 report from CompTIA, tech occupations are expected to grow 15% by 2028, offering increased job opportunities. Broken down by industry, jobs in certain fields are expected to skyrocket:
- 37% rise in cybersecurity analyst and software and application developer positions;
- 31% in data and computer scientist positions;
- 30% rise in emerging tech and IT project management positions;
- 23% rise in CIOs, CTOs, and IT manager positions;
- 18% rise in IT support specialist positions.
Combining classroom instruction with on-the-job training, apprenticeship programs can help companies quickly bring new and more diverse talent into the workplace. The IT apprenticeship program Apprenti has found that 86% of their tech apprentice applicants come from untapped talent pools—including people with disabilities, veterans, women, and minorities. Read more about the benefits apprenticeship programs offer.
