Two recently released, federally funded reports from the Urban Institute and Workcred provide insights into the Trump administration’s efforts to develop competency-based apprenticeships and new workforce credentials. Over the past year, the Trump administration has positioned these two workforce development approaches as the central focus of its workforce development planning.
Developed under a contract from the Department of Labor (DOL), the Urban Institute released the first set of recommendations for competency-based occupational apprenticeship frameworks. Separately, in partnership with National Institute of Standards and Technology Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NIST-MEP), Workcred – an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) affiliate – published a report to help strengthen the quality, value and effectiveness of manufacturing credentials in the United States.