Dive Brief:
- The Department of Energy and Department of Labor released new registered apprenticeship standards for battery manufacturing, as the Biden administration pushes to bring more people into the clean energy workforce.
- The Labor Department-certified guidelines lay out the training requirements for battery machine operators, meant to be used at battery companies and workforce development partners like community colleges.
- Energy Department-backed training programs will begin using the standards and corresponding curricula as early as this month.
Dive Insight:
The training guidelines are part of the White House's push to standardize the country's clean energy workforce development strategy.
They come from the Energy Department's Battery Workforce Initiative, launched in March 2022 for lithium battery workforce training. At the time, the program was given $5 million in funding to pilot several training programs in energy and automotive communities across the country.
It also provides a pathway for a national certification for training standards, which would make it easier to launch and scale workforce development programs for battery manufacturing, the Energy Department said in its announcement last month.
“The Battery Workforce initiative is a perfect example of how agencies and community college partners can come together to create new career pathways into the clean energy workforce,” Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement. “This is a step toward the coherent, cross-sector approach to workforce development we need so we can prepare people to succeed in good jobs that align with the historic investments we’re making.”
The battery initiative will next look at other jobs in the battery manufacturing supply chain, including battery-grade materials processing and recycling.
Apprenticeships are seen as a strategic way for the U.S. to tackle its manufacturing labor constraints at a time when the industry faces a possible 1.9 million worker shortfall by 2033. By some estimates, roughly 70% of the U.S. workforce could benefit from apprenticeships, but the practice still remains outside the norm in the country.
But as the White House pushes the premise that the manufacturing industry offers a career path free from a four-year degree, apprenticeships are becoming increasingly appealing.
The Department of Energy has previously funded apprenticeships and other training programs through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, including offering $24 million in January for workforce development opportunities that do not require a four-year degree.
