This week, governors across the country are joining employers, educators and workers to celebrate National Apprenticeship Week, running April 26 through May 2, 2026. This weeklong celebration highlights the transformative power of earn-while-you-learn pathways, programs that put workers on the path to family-sustaining careers while giving employers the skilled talent they need to grow. From construction sites to childcare centers, from manufacturing floors to healthcare facilities, governors are converting years of investment into durable, lasting structures that will provide returns for generations of workers.
Governors’ commitment to apprenticeship and workforce development is not new, and neither is NGA’s role in supporting it. For years, NGA has served as a national partner and resource for governors working to expand apprenticeship, align education and workforce systems, and create economic opportunities for workers at every stage of their careers. NGA’s Workforce Development & Economic Policy program provides governors and their appointees with customized policy research and analysis, structured peer-to-peer learning opportunities, and other forms of technical assistance across a broad range of workforce priorities, with registered apprenticeship consistently identified as one of the most effective tools in a governor’s toolkit.
NGA has documented this leadership in resources like “How Governors Are Supporting Apprenticeship, Youth Apprenticeship and Other Forms of Work-Based Learning” and “Governors’ Workforce Development Efforts in 2025,” which found that expanding apprenticeship was among the top priorities named by governors’ workforce advisors from across the country. At NGA’s Winter 2026 Workforce Development Policy Institute, which drew participants from 39 states and territories, a key consensus emerged: in this economic moment, governors are rightly rethinking and scrutinizing apprenticeship governance and strategy to help unlock economic growth. That insight is precisely what drives NGA’s most focused current effort.
In Indiana, Governor Mike Braun visited the Central Midwest Carpenters training facility during Apprenticeship Week to spotlight the skilled trades and career-connected education. Braun’s administration recently launched Power Up Indiana, a new initiative to incentivize employers to reskill and upskill workers into higher-wage careers, and Indiana’s revamped diploma system now places greater emphasis on work-based learning and apprenticeship as legitimate pathways for young people.
Governors Take Action
NGA is currently partnering with a cohort of six states — Maryland, Montana, North Carolina, South Dakota, Utah and Washington — through its Policy Academy to Advance Youth Apprenticeship. The Academy supports states in establishing governance structures, removing systemic barriers, and building the high-quality youth apprenticeship programs that employers and young people need. Across the cohort, governors are demonstrating that state leadership is the engine driving apprenticeship expansion, and this week’s activities make that clear.
Montana’s Governor Greg Gianforte celebrated the week with visits to apprenticeship sites across the state, including Play N’ Learn Academy in Great Falls, where he highlighted the Montana Early Childhood Apprenticeship program as a model for expanding apprenticeship beyond the trades into childcare and early education. Gianforte also announced Montana’s Registered Apprenticeship Program reached its highest participation level in history in 2025, with 3,464 active apprenticeships across 65 occupations and more than 814 participating employers, a 33% increase over the past decade. This momentum reflects a broader state strategy under Gianforte’s 406 JOBS initiative to align education, workforce, and industry.
In North Carolina, Governor Josh Stein signed Executive Order 11 in March 2025, establishing the Governor’s Council on Workforce and Apprenticeships and setting a goal that 6% of Title I Youth and Adult workforce funds be directed toward pre-apprenticeships or apprenticeships beginning in Program Year 2025. Governor Stein has also announced plans to direct discretionary Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) funds toward NC Career Launch to support high-quality youth apprenticeships, while NGA works alongside North Carolina to identify opportunities in behavioral health — a sector with both significant workforce shortages and strong potential for apprenticeship pathways.
In South Dakota, Governor Larry Rhoden signed SB 63 in February 2026, establishing a State Apprenticeship Agency (SAA) within the Department of Labor and Regulation — shifting the state away from exclusive reliance on the federal Office of Apprenticeship for program registration. The move gives South Dakota far greater flexibility to design and scale apprenticeship models tailored to state needs, including youth apprenticeship, which is not defined at the federal level but can be defined and built at the state level. NGA has worked closely with the Governor’s office and Department of Labor to help the state understand and leverage this new authority, including developing a formal youth apprenticeship definition to guide employer and education partnerships.
In Utah, Governor Spencer Cox signed SB 195 into law during the 2026 legislative session, establishing the Statewide Youth Apprenticeship Governance Council to coordinate youth apprenticeship programs across state agencies and education providers. The law also authorizes the Department of Workforce Services to share wage record data with the Council and the Utah Data Research Center — a direct outgrowth of NGA’s work helping the state build a shared youth apprenticeship data system. The legislation builds on SB 122, signed by Governor Cox in 2024 with NGA support, which commissioned a comprehensive study of Utah’s youth apprenticeship landscape.
In Wisconsin, Governor Tony Evers marked the week by announcing a fifth consecutive record-breaking year for the state’s Youth Apprenticeship program — with 12,141 high school juniors and seniors enrolled in the 2025-26 school year, a 7% increase over the prior year. The program, the first of its kind in the nation when launched in 1991, now partners with more than 8,100 employers across the state. Governor Evers has backed the program’s growth with over $6 million in the most recent state budget.
Why This Moment Matters
Apprenticeship is no longer a niche workforce strategy, and governors have long recognized that registered apprenticeship represents one of the most effective tools available to strengthen state economies and create opportunity for workers at every stage of their careers. As the nation works toward enrolling one million apprentices, NGA’s Policy Academy is helping ensure that the governance structures, data systems and policy frameworks governors need are in place, not just for today’s programs, but for the long term.
