Giving Compass' Take:

• Here are three lessons from the Swiss apprenticeship model that could potentially inform U.S. economic recovery post-COVID-19.

• What role can donors play in economic recovery? 

• Read about the needs of small businesses in the U.S. in terms of recovery funding. 

Apprenticeships are an integral element of the Swiss economy. Nearly two-thirds of Swiss youth ages 16 to 18 combine school and work through the country’s vocational and education training (VET) model, learning on the job with employers, contributing to production, and learning in the classroom from a curriculum aligned with employers’ needs. Employers invest heavily in apprentices’ training to ensure classroom instruction matches workplace needs.

These investments pay off, too. Most Swiss employers recoup their investments during the apprenticeship. In Switzerland, apprentice wages start at around 12 percent of an occupation’s typical wages to offset training costs. The arrangement makes sense for employers (who get the talent they need and benefit from the apprentice’s work) and apprentices (who are paid, trained, mentored, and exposed to new opportunities).

Though Swiss companies have slowed hiring during the COVID-19 downturn, they remain committed to their apprenticeship programs (PDF). It may seem counterintuitive to invest in hiring and training, but evidence suggests that countries with apprenticeship and VET systems were better able to withstand the 2008 Great Recession and avoid significant youth unemployment.

Although the Swiss and US economies are vastly different, three lessons from the Swiss apprenticeship model could inform our post-COVID-19 economic recovery.

  • Partnerships between employers and training providers benefit everyone, including apprentices
  • Broadening and expanding youth apprenticeship efforts in the US is a growing priority, but more work needs to be done
  • An economic downturn is an opportunity to maintain, or even build, a recovery workforce

Read the full article about apprenticeship model by Diana Elliott and Batia Katz at Urban Institute.