Objective

To determine whether the Department of Labor (DOL) is providing adequate oversight of registered apprenticeship programs (Programs). The audit covered Programs active during the period April 2019 through August 2024. We also considered DOL activities related to those Programs through March 2025.

About the Program

DOL's mission is to provide outstanding services to its customers—the workers and businesses in New York State. As part of fulfilling its mission, DOL oversees registered apprenticeship programs (Programs), which are formal training relationships between an employer and employee (apprentice) during which the apprentice learns a trade. Each Program requires 1 or more years of on-the-job training and hands-on work experience supplemented by related instruction (off-the-job, classroom-type training) that leads to professional, independent, and skilled workers.

Programs are generally offered at no cost to the apprentice by an employer, a group of employers, or a Joint Apprenticeship Committee that represents both employers and a union. Entities that offer Programs are referred to as Sponsors. Sponsors may also work with and execute a written agreement with another party or parties, such as an individual, an employer, or an association)—referred to as Signatories or Signatory Employers. All newly approved Programs must undergo a DOL-required 2-year probationary period. A Sponsor may have more than one Program, but each Program must focus on a single skilled trade and be approved by DOL.

According to regulations issued by DOL (Regulations), all applications will be reviewed to determine the applicant’s compliance with State and federal laws and regulations; provision for equal opportunity in employment; and ability to employ, train, and instruct apprentices. In addition, during the application process, DOL will conduct a review of the applicant’s history of liens and judgments to determine if it has shown the fiscal responsibility necessary to continue the Program through to graduation (collectively referred to as the due diligence review). 

The Program approach may be based on a set period of time (time-based; e.g., a 3-year apprenticeship), the completion of specific competencies (competency-based), or a combination of the two (hybrid). An apprentice/journeyworker ratio is established for each trade to ensure the appropriate safety, training, and supervision of apprentices.

DOL’s Apprenticeship Training Manual (Manual), last revised in 2018, describes procedures for Program oversight, including those that address Program development, registration, promotion, and monitoring. In September 2023, DOL issued Technical Advisory #23-01 (Advisory) to Sponsors that addressed monitoring. For the purposes of this report, we refer to the Manual and the Advisory, collectively, as Guidance.

DOL maintains a series of databases that house information on Sponsors, Programs, apprentices, and Signatories (database). Programs are monitored by DOL Apprenticeship Training Representatives (ATRs), whose monitoring includes visits to Sponsors. During monitoring visits, ATRs must complete a Monitoring Report that summarizes each visit and includes questions about topics such as paying appropriate wages, Sponsor recruitment efforts, and ways apprentices are evaluated. ATRs must answer all questions thoroughly and—where indicated—explain how they verified information. 

Programs that aren’t operated according to applicable laws or Regulations and fail to take corrective action within a reasonable period of time may be deregistered. Under the Regulations, active Programs can go for 1 year without an apprentice; after 1 year, they can either enroll an apprentice or request to go inactive. Sponsors may also voluntarily deregister existing Programs that they no longer are able or wish to conduct.

Additionally, certain approved employers are eligible for the Empire State Apprenticeship Tax Credit (ESATC) program, which provides refundable tax credits against New York State income or franchise tax to eligible employers who register qualified apprentices with an approved Program.

According to the database, as of August 31, 2024, there were 584 Sponsors with 905 Programs representing 163 different trades.

Key Findings

We identified several areas that DOL should address to better oversee registered apprenticeship Programs. Specifically:

• DOL’s time to approve some Program applications submitted during the audit period was excessive, ranging from 1 year to more than 3 years; some applications were still pending approval more than 3 years after their submission date. Delays in the application approval process may postpone the availability of apprenticeship opportunities for potential job seekers and discourage potential Sponsors’ interest in pursuing developing Programs.
• For some approved applications, DOL couldn’t provide documentation that the required due diligence review was done; for others, where the due diligence review identified issues, DOL couldn’t provide sufficient evidence to support that the issues were resolved.
• DOL issued ESATC certificates to some Signatories that may not have been eligible for them.
• ATRs don’t conduct monitoring visits as frequently as called for in the Guidance, both for Programs on probation and those that passed probation. For example, 32 of the 196 Programs that were on probation as of August 31, 2024 hadn’t been visited at all.
• We also found database weaknesses that hinder DOL’s effective oversight of Programs:
  • DOL doesn’t maintain information in its database that would allow ATRs to track resolution of problems; and in some cases, existing fields that would provide some of this information weren’t completed.
  • The database lacks many fields that would provide DOL with insight into Program performance, successes, and areas to address. Furthermore, some of the existing fields contained incorrect information or were left blank.
  • While DOL captures the type of Program deregistration (e.g., failed probation, closed Program) in its database, it doesn’t capture the reason for termination. Having this information would enable DOL to better understand and identify potential problem areas.
• DOL doesn’t adequately track and monitor Program completion rates and most classes of apprentices don’t finish their Program timely, with some apprentices remaining in their Program for significantly longer than expected.

Key Recommendations

• Reduce the time to approve apprenticeship Program applications.
• Incorporate regular communication about new trades and the ESATC program into ATR monitoring practices and document relevant results to inform decision-making.
• Improve practices for conducting monitoring visits and completing Monitoring Reports.
• Enhance practices to improve apprenticeship data collection and reliability, which could include collecting estimated completion dates and reasons for deregistration and improving the accuracy of apprentice status data (e.g., active, exited).
• Develop and implement a mechanism to identify Programs with low completion rates.