Pa. hopes apprenticeship program can help alleviate skilled-worker shortage

Chad Warhold, owner at Warhold Mechanicals in North Huntingdon, has plenty of business. He just needs to find some additional skilled employees, or those willing to learn.

“That’s part of why we got into apprenticeships,” said Warhold, whose company does heating, ventilation and air conditioning, plumbing and gas line work in Southwestern Pennsylvania. “Our industry is lacking employees, and trying to find good, well-trained people is tough.”

Officials from Pennsylvania’s Department of Labor & Industry agreed and met recently for an annual summit highlighting the integral role apprenticeship programs play in attracting and maintaining a skilled workforce.

“Pennsylvania has a long and proud history of apprenticeship programs focused on the skilled trade industries like manufacturing, construction and transportation,” said Tara Loew, director for the labor and industry department’s Apprenticeship and Training Office. “In the last few years, new apprenticeship opportunities have emerged in industries like healthcare, (information technology) and energy.”

Loew joined workforce development professionals from the Pennsylvania College of Technology for the 2022 Apprenticeship Summit in Williamsport, whose theme this year is “Improving Recruitment and Retention through Apprenticeship.”

State and regional officials have worked to bolster the number of skilled workers through workforce development initiatives and by working with school districts to introduce students to the skilled trades at younger ages, a way of battling the stigma that once was attached to “vo-tech” schools.

“That stigma was part of the reason why I didn’t do vo-tech when I was at Norwin,” said Warhold, 40, a 1999 Norwin graduate.

But Warhold had his own sort of apprenticeship, working over the summer for a family friend’s plumbing company at 15.

A few years after starting his own company, Warhold got it certified through the state to take on apprentices.

Through Pennsylvania CareerLink, nearly 1,600 apprenticeship programs have been registered, with almost 17,000 active apprentices statewide, according to the CareerLink website.

“We pride ourselves in taking people at the ground level and getting them to the point where they can run service calls by themselves,” Warhold said.

The state has invested more than $28 million since 2018 in Pennsylvania apprenticeship programs, including $11 million of grants in April.

The latest round of grant funding is aimed at supporting apprenticeship programs with a specific focus on diverse talent, underserved populations, nontraditional occupations and programs that align with secondary and post-secondary education.

In 2020, the apprenticeship program at Oberg Industries in Freeport was recognized by the White House. It was one of nine U.S. companies who received a Presidential Award for Excellence in Workforce Education & Training.

Since its inception in the 1950s, Oberg’s apprenticeship program has trained nearly 1,000 machinists, according to Oberg CEO Mark Paolillo.

Chris Ray, executive director of workforce development at Pennsylvania College of Technology, said he hopes apprenticeship programs can help alleviate the nation’s skilled-worker shortage.

“Apprenticeships overcome these challenges through comprehensive ‘up-skilling’ of employees, while bolstering recruiting and retention efforts to further close the skills gap,” Ray said.

For more on state apprenticeship programs, see DLI.pa.gov and click on “Apprenticeship and Training” under the “Bureaus and Offices” heading.