Apprenticeship models in the UK, France, and USA

Apprenticeship Data Review: UK, France and USA

Why are apprenticeship contracts different now than in the past? There are differences in the average pay of French and English apprentices. Some of the difference is age, not just wage. Older students are denied training opportunities in the U.K., I respectfully submit. A new model may be in order for the English and the French -- the emerging American apprenticeship model.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, for every $1 the government invests in formal apprenticeship training programs, it receives $100 in taxes in return from the wages of working apprentices. Apprenticeship programs are run by both the public and private sectors. Apprenticeship sponsors, who are employers, trade associations and labor-management groups, register programs with federal and state government agencies. Sponsors furnish on-the-job learning and academic instruction to apprentices according to their industry standards and licensing requirements. This paper addresses the following research questions: Why are apprenticehip contracts different now than in the past? Will government investment in apprenticeships help change this?

Main Body

Why are apprenticeship contracts different now than in the past? There are differences in the average pay of French and English apprentices. Some of the difference is age, not just wage. But a lot of the difference is training, I respectfully submit. A new model may be in order for the English and the French -- the emerging American apprenticeship model. The French seem to hae already embraced this by giving tax credits to employers who hire apprentices.

The French Model

On January 18, 2005, then President Jacques Chirac announced a new law on a programme for social cohesion comprising the three pillars: employment, housing and equal opportunity. The French government vowed to further develop apprenticeship as a route to success at school and to employment. This has been a huge success: In 2005, 80% of young French people who had completed an apprenticeship entered employment. In France, the term apprenticeship often suggests manual labor, but it also include other jobs like secretary, manager, engineer, shop assistant in a manufacturing plant. The plan aimed to raise the number of apprentices from 365,000 in 2005 to 500,000 in 2009. To achieve this aim, the government is, for example, granting tax relief for companies when they take on apprentices. This is a reversal: Since 1925 a tax has been levied to pay for apprenticeships. The minister in charge of the campaign, Jean-Louis Borloo, also hoped to improve the image of apprenticeships with an information campaign, as they are often connected with academic failure at school. After the civil unrest end of 2005, the government, led by prime minister Dominique de Villepin, debuted a new law. Named "law on equality of chances," it created the First Employment Contract as well as manual apprenticeship from as early as 14 years of age. From this early age, students are allowed to quit the compulsory school system and learn a vocation. This measure has long been a policy of conservative French political parties.

French Employment Contracts for Apprentices: 2005

Contextual Facts

Apprenticeship is a formal system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Back in the late middle ages and early Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo began their careers as proteges, rising from these apprenticeships to become leaders in their respective fields. Most apprenticeship training is done while working for an employer who assists the apprentices in learning their new trade, in exchange for their continuing labor for an agreed period after they become skilled workers. Theoretical education is also involved by attending vocational schools while still being paid by the employer.

Apprenticeships first developed in the late Middle Ages and came to be controlled by craft guilds. A master craftsman was allowed to employ young people as a form of cheap labor in exchange for providing food, lodging and formal training in the trade. Trades included the occupations of tailor, cordwainer, baker and even stationer, or printer. Benjamin Franklin, one of America's founding fathers, apprenticed as a printer. Apprentices generally began their training at ten to fifteen years of age, and would reside with the master craftsman. Generally, apprentices aspired to becoming master craftsmen themselves upon completion of their contract, often a term of seven years, but many would spend time as a journeyman, or as advanced assistants. The following chart shows how difficult life was for a French or English speaking apprentice in Montreal in the 19th Century.

Apprentice: 323 legend

Dataset consists of contracts signed between apprentices and masters in Montreal. Each row consists of the information from one contract. The contracts involve boys indented to master craftsmen between 1800 and 1839. N = 2286.

For more information on apprentice contracts from Montreal, see Hamilton JEH 2000.

Datloc Unique # for each contract

Notary 1 to 73: each # indicates a different notary

Cday, cmo, cyear Day month & year contract was drawn up

Clang Language of document: 0 = French, 1 =

English

Wage Age of worker, in years

Wfrli, Mfrli Ethnicity of last name for worker (W) & master (M): 1 if name is French, 0 otherwise

Wsigni, msigni,

S1signi

Dummy = 1 if the person can sign their name

(vs. just making an X), 0 otherwise. W =

worker (apprentice), M = master, S1 =

sponsor (usually parent)

Probi Dummy = 1 if there was a probation

(worked together before drawing up a contract)

probyr Length of probation, in years (for contracts with probations); zero otherwise

Cdur Duration of the apprentice contract, in years

Tdur Duration of the apprenticeship (cdur +

probyr)

Annuli 1 if the contract was annulled (not completed), 0 otherwise

Annuld Day contract was annulled (0 if not annulled;

99 if annulled but day not known),

otherwise 1?31

Annulm Month annulment occurred (0 if not annulled; 99 if annulled but month not known), otherwise 1?12

Annuly Year annulment occurred (0 if not annulled;

99 if annulled but year not known),

otherwise 1800?1842

Tenure Length of apprenticeship served (= tdur if no annulment; = probyr + time served if annulled)

Nayrhire Number of active apprentice contracts held by master in the year the Mparti 1 if master had a partner, 0 otherwise

Craft1 Master's trade (group codings): in words

Craftx Numeric code for different group codings of the Master's craft: 1 = shoemaker, 2 =

saddler or tanner, 3 = furniture maker or carpenter, 4 = cooper, 5 = mason etc. 12 =

bookprin = book maker, printer; 13 =

miscraft = miscellaneous crafts; 16 =

smithcoa = blacksmith or coachmaker; 7 =

furhat = furrier or hatter.

School 1 if apprentice was to receive extra schooling (e.g. night school or learning to read/write), 0 otherwise

Regili 1 if apprentice was to be allowed time to 'follow his religion', 0 otherwise

Payflati 1 if pay was the same each year during the life of the contract (not including end pay), 0

otherwise

Epi 1 if there was an end payment, 0 otherwise

Apvc0 Value of cash pay given to apprentice, in a common currency (sum of pay each year;

zero discount rate assumed)

Apvc0tyr Apvc0 / tdur = average value of cash pay per year

Dpvc0 Same as apvc0 except real instead of nominal currency

Dpvc0tyr Same as apvc0tyr except real vs. nominal

Cash 1 if apprentice received cash pay during term, 0 otherwise

Mwashi, mmendi, mclothi, mroomi, mboardi

Apprentice compensation elements: dummy variables = 1 if master provided the service:

wash (clothes), mend (clothes), clothing, room and board

Noconst = 1 if pay not constant (includes endpay): so if flat during term & no end pay, noconst = 0,

if flat during term & end pay, noconst=1; if not flat during term (end pay or not)

noconst=1

Y1800s = 1 if contract year 1800?09

Y1810s = 1 if contract year 1810?19

Y1820s = 1 if contract year 1820?29

Y1830s = 1 if contract year 1830?39

Norb = 1 if apprentice did not receive room&board, 0 otherwise

5 YRINT Numeric for 5-year intervals…1 = cyear

=1800?04; 2 = cyear = 1805?09, etc.

During the last 100 years or so, governmental regulation and the licensing of polytechnics and vocational schools formalized and bureaucratized apprenticeships.

Apprenticeships Today

Men and women interested in learning to become electricians, for example, can join one of several apprenticeship programs offered by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the National Electrical Contractors Association. No background education in electrical work is required to become an apprentice; however, a minimum age of 18 must be met. There is, interestingly, no maximum age for one to apply, so in theory someone who has lost a job during the present economic downturn could turn to this trade as a new form of employment. The organization that runs the program is dubbed the National Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee.

Electrician apprentices labor 37 to 40 hours per week at their new trade under the supervision of a journeyman electrician and receive pay as well as benefits. They spend an another six hours per week in classroom training. At the end of training -- up to five years for commercial and industrial construction, a bit less for residential construction -- apprentices become journeymen electricians. All of this training is offered at no charge. Those completing the training program are considered highly skilled by employers and receive exceptionally high pay and benefits. Other unions like the Ironworkers, Sheet Metal Workers, Plasterers, Bricklayers and others offer similar programs for apprentices.

Trade associations, including the Independent Electrical Contractors and Associated Builders and Contractors, offer an array of apprentice training programs.

As stated in the abstract, and demonstrated in the charts above, the government's small investment in apprenticeships yields big tax revenue returns, relatively speaking. Were the training and investment in apprenticeships increased, I believe tax revenues would soar accordingly as would new job creation.