Economics
Apprenticeship Good for Ben Franklin Closes Skills Gap
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Toby Wofford learned his way around United Tool and Mold Inc. maintaining machines his last two years of high school in Easley, South Carolina. Now he’s graduating to an advanced apprenticeship program that includes free classes at a nearby technical college.
The United Tool apprenticeship is one of more than 500 such programs added in South Carolina since 2008. They range from certified nursing assistants in senior-care facilities to pharmacy technicians at CVS Caremark Corp. These federally registered programs are part of an effort by states to adapt such on-the-job training to close a skills gap in technical jobs.