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Committee hears overview of nontraditional registered apprenticeships and barriers for health care pathways
Summary
Advocates and SEIU told the committee that registered apprenticeships can help address major workforce shortages in health care, but regulatory complexity, clinical training space and multi‑agency approvals limit rapid expansion; members asked for a broader, coordinated approach.
The House Committee on Labor and Workplace Standards heard an informational presentation on nontraditional registered apprenticeships on Feb. 5, focusing on health care workforce shortages and how earn‑while‑you‑learn programs might be expanded.
Matt Swanson of the SEIU Oregon State Council presented data shared by the Employment Department showing that health care will need to replace or hire roughly 224,000 workers in the next 10 years. Swanson said registered apprenticeships are an "earn while you learn" model that can give employers a pipeline of trained workers and that apprenticeships could be a useful complement to higher education and temporary staffing solutions.
Speakers and panelists identified barriers specific to health care: multiple independent regulators and licensing boards, differing training and accreditation requirements, the need for clinical training space and questions about employer readiness to supervise apprentices. Swanson said these constraints can make developing a single new apprenticeship — for example, a licensed practical nurse (LPN) apprenticeship — time‑consuming because of the need to align standards across BOLI, licensing boards, higher‑education partners and third‑party accreditors.
Several committee members asked about employer incentives and whether a sectorwide approach would make it easier to scale apprenticeships. Swanson said the discussion should focus on employer buy‑in, clarifying where clinical training can occur, and mapping which occupations are reasonable apprenticeship candidates.
Outcome: The committee treated the briefing as informational and invited stakeholders and agencies to return with proposals for more coordinated, sectorwide approaches to apprenticeships in health care and other sectors.
