An assessment of the equal opportunity performance of the National Apprenticeship Program

Since 1964, all apprenticeship programs registered with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training were prohibited from discriminating in all phases of apprenticeship on the basis of race, creed, color, or national origin. To increase the number of minority applicants, DOL also began funding apprenticeship outreach programs and apprenticeship information centers. Beginning in 1972, affirmative action in the recruitment and selection of minorities for registered apprenticeship was required of all registered programs with at least five apprentices.;There has been no systematic assessment of the impact of affirmative action in the National Apprenticeship Program (NAP) since the 1970s. This study presents a model of minority apprenticeship participation, and assesses the equal opportunity performance of the NAP for the 1973-90 period.;Trends in the percentage of minority participation, in the number of minority apprentices, and in occupational segregation of apprentices by race are examined. The trend in the percentage of minority apprenticeship participation increased since 1973. By 1990, minority apprenticeship participation surpassed minority representation in the labor force. Regression analysis on the number of minority apprentices was used to identify a positive and significant time trend, holding constant cyclical and minority supply factors. The time trend is a proxy for structural changes, including affirmative action. The trend did not plateau as expected under a policy of affirmative action. The Duncan index of occupational segregation indicates that occupational segregation in apprenticeship increased between 1973 and 1990. In 1990, 23.4 percent of minority apprentices (compared to 16.6 percent in 1973) needed to change occupations in order to achieve the same race mix in each occupation as in the entire registered civilian apprenticeship system. However, when the group of occupations is held constant, the index decreased during the 1970s, but increased after 1979. Weak enforcement, changes in the composition of minorities, and individual occupational choice are potential explanations for the increase in occupational segregation during the 1980s.