Registered Apprenticeship

What this actually is

An apprenticeship pays you wages while you learn the trade and ends with a nationally recognised credential. There is no tuition debt at the end, which is the entire difference between this and a for-profit trade school selling the same skills on credit. The Apprenticeship Job Finder at apprenticeship.gov is the search tool. The programme reports 93% employment retention after completion. Treat the headline earnings figures on the site as programme-wide averages across all trades and regions, not a promise about your trade or your town.

Who qualifies, and what trips people up

Requirements are set by each sponsor — typically a minimum age, a high school diploma or equivalency for many trades, and sometimes an aptitude test or physical requirements. Competitive trades take applications in windows, not continuously. If you lack the diploma, the adult education entry above is the step before this one; some pre-apprenticeship programmes (YouthBuild, above) exist precisely to bridge that gap.