"This is not your grandfather's apprenticeship program," said Diana Jarboe, Registered Apprenticeship Program Coordinator with the Kentucky Workforce & Development Cabinet. In Jarboe's remarks to the Cumberland Workforce Development Board at their June meeting, she said that many people still think of apprenticeships as a training program for just a few skilled building trades. 

"More than 1,000 occupations are part of the modern Registered Apprenticeship program," she said. "Programs are tailored to industrial and organizational needs." Structured on-the-job training can range from one to four years and apprentices can be new or existing employees.

Jarboe listed a number of reasons for employers to register for the Kentucky Apprenticeship program:

• Recruit, train, and retain a workforce
• $1.53 return on every $1.00 invested
• Tuition reimbursement for apprentices
• Other incentive funding

"Ninety-one percent of workers trained through an apprenticeship program were still with their original employer after five years," Jarboe said, quoting the latest U.S. Department of Labor statistics from 2018. "Apprenticeship is an ideal combination of real work experience and related technical instruction."

Learn more about modern apprenticeships for your organization. Stephen Tressler is the registered apprenticeship program coordinator for the 13-county Cumberlands Workforce Area. He may be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by calling (502) 382-8386.