Don’t Just Talk about Young Men. Invest in Them.

In 2024, Donald Trump won big with young men—many of whom are falling behind. Men’s wages have stagnated for decades. Fewer are enrolling in college, and just 42% of bachelor’s degrees now go to men—the lowest share on record. Those skipping college often struggle to find steady work—and, with it, a sense of purpose.

Trump brought The Apprentice to America’s living room. Now, from the White House, he’s backing the real thing. His new Executive Order calls for scaling apprenticeships – earn-and-learn programs – to one million, which could be a win for men who need more than talk. But apprenticeships don’t need more buzz—they need a budget.

Men thrive in apprenticeships, and, yes, that’s a good thing. Eighty-five percent of apprentices are men – many earning more at the journey level than college grads. It’s a success story worth telling—for our economy, families, and the industries that keep America running.

Registered Apprenticeships combine paid, on-the-job training with classroom instruction, and offer a path to good jobs with little or no student debt. According to data from the US Department of Labor, graduates of apprenticeships earn $80,000 annually, and men’s take-home pay increased by 43 percent after completing their program. Companies do well too, with a 144 percent return on their investment from productivity gains and indirect benefits, including lower turnover and improved company culture. 

Apprenticeships are particularly crucial in the skilled trades—fields that require education and high-level skills, but not a college degree. Across the US, we’re short hundreds of thousands of electricians and plumbers. These are high-quality, stable jobs: electricians earn a median of $62,000, and a New York City union plumber can expect to earn six figures.  While college has been historically subsidized and promoted, apprenticeships and the trades have been overlooked and underfunded.

Yet, apprenticeships are on the fringe in the labor market. Just 0.3% of U.S. workers are apprentices, a fraction compared to Germany and the United Kingdom.  But there is positive news: Registered Apprenticeships have nearly doubled over the past decade. In Trump’s first term, they grew by 30%. Tech giants like Google, IBM, Tesla, and Amazon all initiated new apprenticeship programs.

Modest federal investments drove that progress—and proved apprenticeships work. This isn’t bloated spending; it’s smart, targeted investment that yields measurable returns for workers and businesses. A Washington State cost-benefit analysis found that, by far, Registered Apprenticeships offer the best value in public workforce programs. The average Washingtonian’s wage gain exceeds $30,000, with strong returns for both taxpayers and apprentices.

Apprenticeships can also help close the gaps in professions with labor shortages and gender imbalances. For example, men are noticeably absent in health, education, administration, and literacy (HEAL) fields. The gender disparities among public school teachers are particularly stark. Male teachers have declined from 30% in 1987 to 23% in 2022. They are a critical role model for boys—especially in elementary school, where just 1 in 11 are men.

Essential teacher pipelines are already being built through apprenticeships at the state and local level—in Tennessee, New York, Colorado, and Iowa. Through apprenticeships that can break down student loan barriers and pay barriers, we can reach men unlikely to follow the university route.

The same apprenticeship pathway has been created and can be incentivized through apprenticeships in nursing, behavioral health, and physical therapy. For example, recent federal investments in the national apprenticeship curriculum for HEAL training can be deployed by employers in every state at minimal cost.

With Registered Apprenticeships, employers and the private sector lead the training. With a modest annual investment of $3-4 billion, we can match what the UK and Germany are doing—and build a plan that conservative leaders can rally behind.

The President’s “skinny budget,” released last month, would eliminate, consolidate, and cut many federal workforce programs by $1.6 billion—sending the funds to states. For the first time, it mandates that 10 percent of those dollars go to Registered Apprenticeships, a clear signal of support for apprenticeships.

But signaling support won’t get us to one million apprentices—it risks becoming just another empty promise. You can’t grow apprenticeships by slashing the very programs that make them work. Congress should update the Depression-era National Apprenticeship Act and fund it—and ensure it works for the trades, hospitals, and classrooms where America needs workers.

Investing in apprenticeships is a powerful way to turn rhetoric into results—for the men who need it most.