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Witnesses tell House subcommittee apprenticeships and career centers can help fill skilled‑worker gap
Summary
Industry and K‑12 witnesses told the House subcommittee that apprenticeships and regional career centers provide viable alternatives to four‑year degrees, help students gain credentials and enter well‑paying jobs, and can address technician shortages — but witnesses said federal support and sustained funding are needed to scale programs.
Industry leaders and K‑12 educators told the House Oversight subcommittee that apprenticeships, paid internships and regional career centers offer practical pathways into well‑paying work and can address urgent shortages in skilled trades.
Todd Dillander, chief operating officer at Caliber Collision, described the company’s TAP technician apprenticeship program and said it trains and pays apprentices ‘‘day 1’’ with a competency‑based curriculum that typically completes ‘‘within 12 to 18 months.’’ Dillander told the committee that since 2023 Caliber has ‘‘graduated more than 2,300 apprentices’’ and that at any given time the company has ‘‘another 1,300 to 1,800 in training.’’ He said those graduates are ‘‘out in the field today repairing tens of thousands of vehicles’’ and that scaling apprenticeships requires…
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