— Employer interest in Wisconsin apprenticeship programs is on the rise amid fierce competition for talent.
That’s according to Liz Pusch, deputy director of Wisconsin Apprenticeship with the state Department of Workforce Development. She spoke yesterday at the Madison Region’s Economic Development and Diversity Summit, hosted by the Madison Region Economic Partnership and the Urban League of Greater Madison.
She highlighted a post-pandemic surge in business engagement with DWD’s apprenticeship offerings, as well as more students and even college-educated workers seeing the program as a pathway to better job opportunities.
“Our average age of a registered apprentice is 28 years old,” Pusch said. “So people are starting in their career route, and then they’re figuring out, ‘This is not what I want to do.’”
Seth Lentz, executive director of the Workforce Development Board of South Central Wisconsin, echoed her point about more employers seeing apprenticeships as a viable option. He added more businesses are seeing the long-term value of investing in their own workers’ skills.
“Employers are starting to see some increased retention because you’re making and building this bond with the workers,” he said.
DWD last month announced a new record-high level of participation in the Youth Apprenticeship programs, with 8,357 high school juniors and seniors taking part in the 2022-23 school year. Two months earlier, state officials had touted a record of 15,900 apprentices participating in the Registered Apprenticeship program last year.
While registered apprenticeships train workers for a specific occupation, the youth program is designed to expose participants to a wide array of career options, Pusch explained. She noted some programs at the professional level are designed to help employees train for a more advanced position without having to leave the workforce.
Bridgett Willey, director of allied health education and career pathways for UW Health, said certain apprenticeships can lead to an academic degree along with professional credentials.
“That’s super important in health care, where a lot of the career advancement relies on you going to get your bachelor’s degree, or your master’s degree,” she said.
— UW Health has launched apprenticeship programs for medical assistants and nursing assistants in recent years, both of which Willey touted as having great success.
“Our outcomes are pretty outstanding, for which I credit the teams that are doing the teaching and the day-to-day managing of those programs,” she said during yesterday’s event in Madison.
The medical assistant program has had 163 graduates since 2018, with 97 percent of students completing the apprenticeship. Ninety-nine percent of participants passed the credentialing exams on their first try, and all of the graduates were employed at UW Health with a retention agreement. Plus, 91 percent are people of color.
For the nursing assistant program, which has had 165 graduates since 2019, 91 percent completed the apprenticeship, 89 percent passed exams on their first try and 98 percent were hired by UW Health. And 93 percent are people of color.
“We’ve made a real impact on increasing diversity in these historically white-dominated professions,” Willey said.
For both youth apprenticeships and registered apprenticeships, the health system covers the cost of tuition and books as well as providing wages and benefits, she added.
“So people are fully supported, and can actually support families while they’re going through the training programs,” she said.
<br><b><i>Top headlines from the Health Care Report…</b></i>
— A UW-Madison scientist is getting $2 million over the next five years through a new scholars program funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
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— The Milwaukee area’s economy lagged in March, according to the latest Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce report.
Eleven of the 23 indicators tracked by the MMAC showed a positive trend for the month, suggesting weakness in the metro area’s economy. Bret Mayborne, vice president of economic research for the MMAC, notes this is the first time in two years that less than half of those factors were pointed in the right direction.
“Likewise total nonfarm employment fell from one year ago, down a modest 0.2%, but also the first year-over-year decline in this indicator since March 2021,” Mayborne said in the report.
Six of the area’s 10 major industries saw job gains over the year in March, with the largest increases in government jobs and other services, with 3.1 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, professional and business services had the largest decline for the month with 6.8 percent fewer jobs compared to the prior year. MMAC notes that’s the fifth month in a year of declining jobs for the sector.
Still, Milwaukee’s unemployment rate of 2.5 percent is the same as the state’s current record low rate, and remains below the national rate of 3.6 percent.
See the full report: https://www.wisbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/230510MMACtrends.pdf
— Gov. Tony Evers has announced three new appointments to the Wisconsin Technical College System Board, including former Dem U.S. Senate candidate Alex Lasry.
Evers also reappointed Quincey Daniels, owner of Dr. Daniels and Education Consulting. He’s also a former senior lecturer at Waukesha County Technical College.
The only remaining Walker appointee is Vice President Mark Tyler, who was later reappointed by Evers.
Lasry, former senior VP for the Milwaukee Bucks, is joined by Janixa Franco Gonzales, a special education paraprofessional for the Pewaukee School District who is getting her degree in early childhood education from Waukesha County Technical College. Evers also appointed WRTP I BIG STEP President and CEO Lindsay Blumer.
Gonzales is the student member and will take the place of Megan Bahr, an Evers appointee. Lasry will replace former Board President Rodney Pasch, a Walker appointee, as a public member, and Blumer is the employer member, taking the role of attorney Stephen Willet, another Walker appointee. Their terms expired in May.
The new members join a slate of Evers appointees, including three that took up their positions on the board in January after three Walker appointees stayed on past their terms expired in May 2021. Dairy farmer Becky Levzow, former Republican state Rep. Mary Williams and ABC of Wisconsin Vice President Kelly Tourdot sent their letters of resignation on Dec. 29.
The three board members who Evers appointed to fill those spots began serving in January and were confirmed last month.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
See the release:
#TOP STORIES#
# Mining company wins approval for drilling in Wisconsin
# Bad River tribe seeks emergency shutdown of Line 5 due to riverbank erosion
# Rockwell reaches out to U.S. officials after report of federal investigation of facility in China
#TOPICS#
# AGRIBUSINESS
– Shredding Hunger: How Maple Ridge Foods and Feeding America bring affordable cheese to food banks nationwide
http://wisconsinagconnection.com/story-state.php?Id=477&yr=2023
# BIOTECH
– Exact Sciences stock soars after firm reports strong sales
# CONSTRUCTION
– Pickleball court builders Munson and Frank Armstrong Paving reunite for the first time since 1977
– $702K in grants distributed by La Crosse County for town stormwater projects
# ECONOMY
– Breaking the cycle: Addressing generational patterns key to improving quality of life
# ENVIRONMENT
– Expanding collaborative efforts: Wisconsin enacts law to enhance farmer-led conservation for cleaner waters
http://wisconsinagconnection.com/story-state.php?Id=478&yr=2023
# FOOD AND BEVERAGE
– Gender neutral bathrooms are on the rise in Madison restaurants
# HEALTH CARE
– Medical College planned to host conservative panel on diversity. No more.
# INVESTING
– Former Mequon investment advisor charged with fraud ordered to pay $8 million in penalties
# LEGAL
– Woman charged with embezzling $198,000 from Fox Point company
# MINING
– State regulators approve mining company’s plans to drill within the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest
# REAL ESTATE
– Engineering firm HNTB leases two more floors in downtown Milwaukee Two-Fifty building
– Wells Fargo moving downtown Milwaukee office out of 100 East
# SMALL BUSINESS
– Funky Fresh closing Sherman Phoenix restaurant, eyes national distribution
# SPORTS
– Brewers stadium deal in limbo as Milwaukee County leaders clash with state GOP on funding deal
# TOURISM
– Milwaukee Bucks’ Deer District moves forward with hotel opening. So what’s next?
# COLUMNS
– Viewpoints: Why a sales tax for Milwaukee County, and why elected officials should vote on it
# PRESS RELEASES
<i>See these and other press releases:
https://www.wisbusiness.com/press-releases/ </i>
Dept. of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection: To survey for spongy moth in 47 counties
