The four-year U.S. Department of Labor initiative pays for employers to hire and keep new auto, collision, and truck technicians
Leesburg, Va.—The ASE Education Foundation has been awarded a $25 million, four-year grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to expand registered apprenticeships for auto, collision, and truck service technicians nationwide—the largest workforce investment the Department has ever directed to the transportation service industry.
The award comes through the Department’s Pay-for-Performance Incentive Payments Program. It rewards employers with registered apprenticeships for hiring apprentices and coaching them through the make-or-break first year on the job.
Program sponsors—dealer groups, shop associations, franchise operators and similar organizations—will receive $3,500 for every apprentice they bring on and keep, paid in two parts as the new technician reaches 90 and 270 days on the job.
Employers who have an existing registered apprenticeship can participate, and those who don’t won’t have to build their programs from scratch.
The ASE Education Foundation and National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) provide a ready-made playbook—the free Apprenticeship-in-a-Box—covering everything from mentor training to interview guides, so a shop can stand up a credible program quickly.
The ASE Education Foundation is leading the effort with a coalition that reaches nearly every corner of the industry. Other initial partners include the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE), the American Truck Dealers (ATD), and Jobs for the Future (JFF), which will manage the incentive payments and federal reporting.
Together they will engage employers, schools and prospective technicians in all 50 states, the five territories and the District of Columbia.
The ASE Education Foundation is actively recruiting more partners, and apprenticeships will be created all across the industry; in franchised dealerships, retail chains, fleets, body shops, truck and diesel repair shops, and independent auto repair shops.
Recruitment begins immediately. Employers looking to develop their own technicians, schools looking to place their students, and anyone considering the trade as a career can learn more and sign up for updates at ASEeducationFoundation.org/apprenticeship.
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