Key points in this article:

• Trump signed an order to expand apprenticeships to increase employment opportunities
• It will prove highly effective in a world where specialized skills and knowledge is a requisite in earning a living
• Apprenticeship can be effective for reemployment of older people

 
Trump’s economic policy is entering its second phase.

According to the U.S. Bureau of labor Statistics, the number of job offers in the U.S. in April 2017 exceeded 6 million, hitting a record high since surveys began in 2000. This is due to a combination of reasons, but Trump’s promise to create jobs has indubitably played a big part.

While job opportunities are on the rise and there are plenty of people looking for work, companies are still suffering from a shortage of labor. It is because industries looking for workers require specialized skills, such as architecture, manufacturing, and medicine; but most people looking for work do not have these skills.

Trump’s proposed apprenticeship program seeks to fill that gap. On 15 June, Trump signed an executive order to add funding to apprenticeships and undertake deregulation to allow company organizations and trade unions to establish their own training program.

This apprenticeship will train and teach future workers all necessary knowledge in the specific field, and allow for practical opportunities. The apprentices will be given an allowance during the traineeship, and are promised a job placement after upon its completion.

The result of American apprenticeship until now has been promising, with 9 out of every 10 apprentices successfully given a placement, and the average annual first-year salary being US$60,000. This exceeds the US$52,000 of an average collage graduate. Companies that adopted the apprenticeship have experienced an increase in work efficiency and a drop in the number of people who resign. The policy works very advantageously for both the workers and the companies.

The problem was the scarcity of apprenticeship positions in the U.S. (around 505,000 people in 2016, in comparison to the 6 million people looking for work). Trump realized that government regulation was the culprit behind why companies don’t embrace the apprenticeship program, and is now working toward deregulation.

Increasing People Who Can Earn

The income disparity between college graduates and high school graduates are widening in the U.S.

Sentier Research found that the average income of a male high school graduate dropped 8.9% between 1996 and 2014, in contrast to the average income of the male collage graduate, which increased 22.5% in the interim.

With significant developments in AI technology, the world is increasingly becoming a place where earning a living requires high-level specialized skills; and this issue is seen all around the globe. The gap between those can and can’t earn is growing, and to increase the number of people who can, it is essential that we create opportunities for them acquire specialized skills and knowledge.

If countries that don’t have apprenticeship, such as Japan, were to adopt the program, it can be used to reemploy older retired people. It will become a place for elderly people who still have the zeal to work, to acquire necessary skills and knowledge for successful reemployment.

Trump’s apprenticeship idea can teach us how to survive in a society of extreme population ageing.