Apprentice-ships help Iowans boost their careers

Ragan Report: The number of skilled workers is not growing fast enough to meet demand, according to a report on The Future of Work from the Council on State Governments.
Iowa is falling short of our goal for 70 percent of our workforce to have some educa-tion or training beyond high school by 2025. The Iowa economy won’t be able to pick steam if we can’t fill our job openings—especially when other states are pushing ahead with initiatives to grow their own workforces.
One solution is expanding apprenticeships, which allow people to earn a paycheck while learning the skills that local businesses need. Depend-ing on the occupation, appren-ticeships can last from one to five years. During that time, you’ll get 2,000 hours of on-the-job training and at least 144 hours of classroom in-struction per year.
North Iowa has apprentice-ship opportunities in some of our state’s fastest-growing sectors. You can train to be an electrician in Sheffield or Clear Lake; learn to install and ser-vice heating and cooling sys-tems in Rockwell; get HVAC skills in Hampton; or become a plumber in Mason City.
Apprenticeships are a big part of a plan I support to Put Iowans First. We all win when employers have the workers they need to be successful, Iowans are enjoying reward-ing, good-paying careers, and our economy is thriving.
To learn more about Iowa’s apprenticeship opportunities, go to earnandlearniowa.gov. The site offers helpful infor-mation to employers interested in setting up an apprentice program and to job seekers exploring careers.
Additional information
This is a legislative update from State Senator Amanda Ragan, representing Frank-lin, Butler and Cerro Gordo counties. For bio, photos and further information, go to www.senate.iowa.gov/senator/ragan.
To contact Senator Ragan when the Legislature is in session, call the Senate Switchboard at 515-281-3371. Otherwise she can be reached at 641-424-0874. E-mail her at aman-da.ragan@legis.iowa.gov.
Senator Ragan is the Sen-ate Democratic Whip and ranking member of the Health and Human Services Budget. She also serves on the Agri-culture, Appropriations, Hu-man Resources, Rules & Ad-ministration and Veterans Affairs committees.