ETA launched the American Apprenticeship Initiative (AAI) in October 2015 and provided five-year grants to 46 grantees to expand registered apprenticeship into new sectors and to populations historically underrepresented in apprenticeships. Some AAI grantees received no-cost extensions of their periods of performance through September 2021. In April 2016, ETA commissioned an evaluation of the AAI to build evidence about the effectiveness of registered apprenticeship for apprentices and employers. The evaluation included four sub-studies (an implementation study, an outcomes study, an employer return-on-investment (ROI) study, and an assessment of a demonstration to encourage employers to adopt apprenticeship). Three reports comprised the implementation sub-study. In addition to the sub-study reports, the AAI Evaluation included five topical issue briefs.

This report presents findings from the AAI demonstration sub-study that examined the impact of employer engagement efforts on employers’ take-up of registered apprenticeship. The two grantees in the demonstration were MassHire Hampden County Workforce Board, a sub-grantee to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, and Philadelphia Works, along with two of its grant partners; however, only MassHire was able to fully implement the approach. Over the course of the 17-month demonstration (January 2019 to July 2020), MassHire implemented consultative sales activities with a treatment group of employers, while conducting business as usual in terms of outreach efforts with a control group of employers. The evaluation found that twelve (12) percent of employers in the MassHire treatment group registered at least one apprenticeship program, while no employers in the control group registered any apprenticeship programs. This difference represented a statistically significant impact of the consultative sales approach on MassHire employer registration of apprenticeship programs.