WASHINGTON — Nonunion apprenticeship programs and participants were responsible for the vast majority of growth in construction registered apprenticeship programs, or RAPs, over the past five years, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of U.S. Department of Labor data.
“The DOL data show that ABC and merit shop contractors are leading the industry in growing both registered apprenticeship programs and innovative new workforce development pipelines,” said Kristen Swearingen, ABC vice president of government affairs. “ABC supports the DOL building on its success by streamlining and simplifying apprenticeship regulations while providing incentives for better RAP performance, which will attract new sponsors and employers to the system. This is vital to providing access to these high-quality, earn-and-learn opportunities to more Americans and meeting the important goal of 1 million new active apprentices set forth by President Donald Trump.”
ABC’s analysis of the data demonstrates that the merit shop is the sector most responsible for increasing access to registered apprenticeships in fiscal years 2020-2025:
- In 2025, 93% of the construction industry’s RAPs were nonunion providers.
- Participants in nonunion RAPs increased by 60% from 2020 to 2025, compared to just 21% for union programs.
- The number of nonunion RAPs has grown by 18% since 2020, compared to a 1.5% decrease in union-affiliated RAPs.
- Completers of nonunion RAPs increased by 47% from 2020 to 2025, compared to 19% for union programs.
- In 2025, 31% of all construction industry RAP participants were in nonunion programs.
ABC estimates that, in fiscal year 2025, the construction industry’s federal and state RAPs had about 324,000 apprentice participants and yielded 40,000 completers.* ABC put the construction industry workforce shortage at 349,000 in 2026, reflecting the need for an all-of-the-above approach to workforce development that incorporates registered apprenticeship as an important tool.
“ABC champions registered apprenticeships as a key solution in construction workforce development,” said Swearingen. “ABC’s 67 chapters educate craft, safety and management professionals using innovative and flexible learning models like just-in-time task training, competency-based progression and work-based learning, in addition to more than 450 federal and state RAPs in more than 20 different occupations across America.”
*Note that eight states did not report complete RAP data to the DOL, so ABC’s figure incorporates rough estimates to account for missing state data.
Associated Builders and Contractors is a national construction industry trade association established in 1950 with 67 chapters and 24,000 members. Founded on the merit shop philosophy, ABC helps members offer a robust employee value proposition, develop people, win work and deliver that work safely, ethically and profitably for the betterment of the communities in which ABC and its members work. Visit us at abc.org.
