Günseli Berik and Cihan Bilginsoy
This paper aims to evaluate the variations in the entry and exit of women apprentices in the USA, overall and by race/ethnicity, over the 1995‐2003 period. Also aims to examine…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to evaluate the variations in the entry and exit of women apprentices in the USA, overall and by race/ethnicity, over the 1995‐2003 period. Also aims to examine how women's representation among new apprentices and their attrition and retention rates vary with individual, training program, and occupational characteristics.
Design/methodology/approach
An individual‐level dataset from the US Department of Labor is used to estimate econometrically women's representation in apprenticeship programs and women's odds of completing programs.
Findings
Women's representation among new trainees is very low and deteriorating. The results confirm previous findings based on data for the early 1990s that program sponsorship has significant impact on women's representation and retention. Women have better chances of joining the high‐skill construction workforce if they enroll in union‐contractor joint programs. Joint programs feature higher shares of women in the incoming classes and higher odds of graduation in comparison with the unilateral contractor programs. While White women have higher completion rates than Latinas and Black women, the union impact on shares of enrollees is the largest for Black women and the lowest for White women.
Research limitations/implications
The dataset is not nationally representative. It covers 31 states or about 65 percent of all apprentices.
Practical implications
Union sponsorship is necessary but not sufficient to enhance women's integration in the trades. Increasing participation of women in apprenticeship and the trades requires major changes in policies, priorities, and behavior of contactors, unions, and the government to actively recruit women and improve working conditions at the construction site.
Originality/value
This is the first systematic analysis of performance of women apprentices that utilizes the most recent data from the USA.
Details
Keywords
Robert W. Glover and Cihan Bilginsoy
This paper aims to compare the performance of building trades apprenticeship programs in the USA, sponsored jointly by employers and unions, with those sponsored unilaterally by…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to compare the performance of building trades apprenticeship programs in the USA, sponsored jointly by employers and unions, with those sponsored unilaterally by employers. It reviews enrolment and graduation rates, including participation of women and minorities. The article also looks behind the numbers to examine the operation of apprenticeship. It reviews the evolution of joint programs, including institutional arrangements and recent innovations to cope with the challenging characteristics of construction labor markets.
Design/methodology/approach
Statistical comparisons by type of program sponsor are carried out using individual‐level data on registered apprenticeship for the period 1996‐2003. Evolution of apprenticeship programs is discussed in a historical perspective.
Findings
Joint programs (with union participation) were found to have much higher enrolments and greater participation of women and ethnic/racial minorities. Joint programs also exhibit markedly better performance for all groups on rates of attrition and completion. Joint programs have developed various innovations, including college credit for training and scholarship loans to expand apprenticeship and improve quality and retention, although there are no quantitative evaluations of the effectiveness of many of these specific measures.
Research limitations/implications
Statistical information includes about 65 percent of all registered apprentices in the USA.
Practical implications
The paper shows that alternative forms of training sponsorship have substantially different effects on enrolment and graduation. Identification of the practices, that improve enrolment and retention, and their widespread adoption would enhance the effectiveness of training programs.
Originality/value
The dataset used in this paper has not yet been used in any publications. The findings regarding joint programs are notable, in view of the skilled labor shortages facing the construction industry in the USA.
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E.K. Hunt and Allen M. Sievers
The University of Utah is located in Salt Lake City, the home of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS or Mormon). This conjunction has led some to believe the…
Abstract
The University of Utah is located in Salt Lake City, the home of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS or Mormon). This conjunction has led some to believe the University is Church-run, or at least Church dominated. In fact, the University, state-financed from the beginning, has been wholly autonomous since an incident in the early 20th Century. In that incident several faculty members were discharged for their unorthodox religious and political views. This led to an uproar and subsequent protracted controversy, the resolution of which did not reinstate the discharged faculty members but did establish the complete autonomy of the University from the Church.