President Trump has set his sights on a bold new target for American workforce development: one million new apprentices per year.
In an executive order signed on April 23, 2025, Trump directed the Secretaries of Labor, Education, and Commerce to submit a comprehensive plan within 120 days to dramatically expand the nation’s apprenticeship programs. The directive represents a significant scaling up of the current system, which as of fiscal year 2025 supports approximately 678,014 active apprentices nationwide.
Streamlining the Path to Skilled Trades
The order aims to “modernize” U.S. workforce development programs by reducing administrative burdens and prioritizing investments in high-demand sectors like advanced manufacturing, according to details released by the administration. It also calls for a review of all federal workforce programs to better align education with employment opportunities.
“Right now, we’re focused on the registered apprenticeships, growing those, investing in those and making sure that those are adhered to,” Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer told lawmakers during her confirmation hearing, as reported earlier this year.
What’s notably absent from the new order? The previous requirement for consultation with labor unions on apprenticeship programs has been rescinded, raising questions about how organized labor might respond to the changes.
Industry Partnerships Key to Success
The push comes as many industry members are already actively partnering with educational institutions and veteran and youth programs to support apprenticeship opportunities, according to the National Tooling and Machining Association, which praised the order.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon has been particularly vocal about apprenticeships as effective career pathways. Her enthusiasm reflects a broader administration view that traditional four-year college degrees aren’t the only route to economic prosperity.
“President Donald Trump directed the secretaries of Labor, Education and Commerce to submit a plan within 120 days to ‘reach and surpass 1 million new active apprentices,'” the executive order states. The ambitious target would require increasing current apprenticeship participation by nearly 50 percent.
The administration’s focus on trades and apprenticeships isn’t entirely surprising. Trump’s business background and previous term’s emphasis on manufacturing align with this renewed push to connect Americans with skilled trade jobs that don’t necessarily require a college degree.
Still, implementing such a dramatic expansion in just 120 days presents significant challenges. The current apprenticeship system has taken decades to build to its present size of nearly 680,000 participants.
Whether this ambitious goal can be reached—and more importantly, sustained—will depend largely on how effectively the administration can engage employers, streamline regulations, and convince Americans that apprenticeships offer viable career paths in today’s economy.
