Push Apprenticeships to Boost Broadband Workforce, Senate Subcommittee Told

Senate Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety members and industry representatives used a Tuesday hearing to promote apprenticeship programs to bolster the broadband workforce. Several panelists and members cited the need for a skilled workforce as states prepare to implement the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

“We are at a critical time in our quest to expand access to high-speed broadband internet to literally every American,” said Subcommittee Chair John Hickenlooper, D-Colo. The infrastructure law is “going to be a historic investment in our national connectivity,” Hickenlooper said, but “we can't fully achieve these goals if we do not have a skilled, well-trained workforce ready to deploy broadband across the country.”

The "needs of telecom" and rural broadband "may require better high school curriculum," said ranking member Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind. “No single mode can provide a one-size-fits-all solution to solving workforce shortages,” said LightStream CEO Brent Gillum. Developing a skilled telecom workforce can be done by “quantifying vacancies and projected demand,” addressing barriers to job pathways, creating workforce development opportunities through new and existing curriculum, and “forging local partnerships with industry, government, educational institutions, and other economic development organizations.”

Workforce development and broadband development are "inextricably linked," said Tipmont REMC CEO Ron Holcomb. There's "no better way to learn a skilled trade than in a registered apprenticeship,” said Dan Hendricks, Denver Joint Electrical Apprenticeship and Western Colorado Electrical Joint Apprenticeship director, but “people don’t know it exists.” Apprenticeship programs “need more exposure,” Hendricks said.

Hickenlooper asked what kind of federal efforts are needed to help recruit apprentices. Hendricks said partnerships with the Department of Education would "at least get the word out" among students. "We need to aggressively apply apprenticeships and credentialing programs," said Brookings Institution Center for Technology Innovation Director Nicol Turner Lee. Community colleges could work with industry to "develop partnership agreements" and a digital service corps could help individuals who may need a "pre-step" into an apprenticeship program, Turner Lee said.

There’s a high demand for construction-based, software management and customer service jobs, Turner Lee said. There’s also a need for a "national reskilling campaign" to reach older Americans who may be transitioning to a new career, she said. Ongoing training for current employees is also expensive because "technology rolls over very quickly," Holcomb said: Ensuring enough resources for this is a "particularly interesting element to the problem we have."

Having a skilled workforce is "one of the primary challenges" of implementing the infrastructure law, said Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev. Apprenticeship programs can only go so far if there aren’t enough projects to put a person on, Hendricks said, and broadband infrastructure projects should “demand the utilization of registered apprenticeships.”

Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., asked whether workforce readiness programs should begin at the youth level to introduce them to apprenticeship programs. It comes down to local, grassroots efforts, Holcomb said: Community colleges are "key to addressing this issue” and “we got to build the pipeline early.” Gillum agreed and said that his company tries to “interject and involve ourselves with the community."

"Currently, neither a large enough nor a fully trained workforce is available to meet the demand for the massive future broadband buildout ahead of us that Congress envisioned," said the Wireless Infrastructure Association in a letter to the subcommittee. The recent federal broadband investment "will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs, increasing demand on the already short supply of skilled and diverse workers," WIA said, and a "corresponding initiative is needed to develop the broadband workforce through support for registered apprenticeships and the educational system." Registered apprenticeships are "the most effective way to ensure companies can recruit, train, and retain the skilled workers needed to deploy broadband," said CEO Jonathan Adelstein in a statement. The group is expanding its telecom industry registered apprenticeship program "to meet the unprecedented demand for broadband workers," Adelstein said.