The Launchpad Decade
Expanding Futures and Strengthening Our Workforce Through Youth Apprenticeship
$ 37 + M
in estimated gross wages earned by apprentices at flagship sites
Overview
Executive Summary
The decade from high school to early adulthood—what we call The Launchpad Decade—represents a critical window for economic mobility, yet today’s young people navigate this transition amid three converging pressures: rising costs that make education unaffordable (Affordability), unprecedented levels of anxiety driven by economic uncertainty (Anxiety), and artificial intelligence reshaping entry-level labor markets (AI).
This report documents CareerWise’s decade-long effort building youth apprenticeship systems that address these challenges through structured, paid apprenticeship pathways. Across flagship sites in Colorado and New York City plus affiliate networks in Indiana, Buffalo, and Washington D.C., CareerWise has served nearly 2,600 young people and partnered with 350 employers across 25+ occupations.
CareerWise apprentices have earned over $37.6 million in wages while developing professional skills and networks.
Section I
The Challenge Facing Young People Today
The decade during and immediately following high school is a powerful window of opportunity—one that plays an outsized role in shaping long-term economic mobility, purpose, and well-being. This time period is a launchpad where quality work exposure propels the ability for young people to achieve their dreams. What they need are the conditions that allow these strengths to flourish
Youth Unemployment: A Warning Signal
As of July 2025, the unemployment rate for youth (ages 16–24) was 10.8%, unchanged from a decade ago and roughly double the national unemployment rate. Extended joblessness early in a career can lead to what economists call “scarring effects”—lower lifetime earnings, reduced job stability, and diminished economic mobility.
Affordability: The Hidden Reality of Working Learners
According to the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, over half of young adult households (ages 16–24) are “cost-burdened,” spending more than 30% of their income on housing and utilities alone. With more than $1.6 trillion in student loan debt nationally, many young people face an impossible calculation: take on crippling debt to access education, or forgo credentials increasingly required for economic mobility. Among CareerWise apprentices, nearly 65% are family earners, using wages to pay for household expenses. Another 66% use wages to save for ongoing education.
Anxiety: Navigating Uncertainty in an Unstable World
According to recent federal data, 50% of adults aged 18–24 reported symptoms of anxiety or depression in 2023—significantly higher than older age groups. In a survey of approximately 1,500 Gen Z individuals, 47% reported “excessive anxiety or worry,” with more than half (52%) indicating they are “very or extremely worried about not having enough money.” Yet when young people are given structured opportunities that connect learning to professional purpose, outcomes shift: 88% of CareerWise apprentices report feeling more confident planning for the future.
AI: A Transformed Entry-Level Labor Market
According to the Brookings Institution, more than 30% of U.S. workers could see at least 50% of their job tasks disrupted by generative AI. The World Economic Forum reports that 70% of workers aged 18–25 say generative AI gives them “opportunities to learn new skills”—however, more than 55% report concern about job security. At CareerWise, 84% of supervisors say their apprentice is contributing a valuable work product, applying high-demand skills to real projects.
Section II
The CareerWise Journey
For more than a decade, CareerWise has been building the systems that make youth apprenticeship possible, starting in Colorado, expanding nationally, and demonstrating that these models can succeed across diverse contexts when designed with intention, quality, and collaboration at the center. By creating conditions that recognize and build on young people’s existing strengths, we have seen what becomes possible when opportunity is matched with meaningful support.
National Expansion
As attention to youth apprenticeship has grown, new markets have sought to build their own systems, expanding CareerWise’s role from direct service delivery to technical assistance and capacity building. CareerWise has helped shape a national conversation about youth apprenticeship across more than 20 states, anchored in a shared vision:
A nation where every young person has pathways to their American Dream.
Section III
Impact
CareerWise has demonstrated that when young people are given structured pathways that integrate paid work and learning, they don’t just survive the transition from school to career—they thrive.
Value to Students
young people have participated in CareerWise apprenticeships across our flagship sites
in estimated gross wages earned by apprentices at our flagship sites
of apprentices can imagine themselves succeeding in a career of interest as a result of their apprenticeship
Value to Business
employer partners, from small to enterprise level, offering training in 25+ occupations
of supervisors say youth apprenticeship is a valuable training model in their company
of supervisors say as a result of their role, they’re more confident managing early career talent
of completed apprentices employed in training pathway
Value to Systems
Support 80+ intermediaries nationwide as they build and scale youth apprenticeship systems, touching hundreds of school districts and 5 million+ students
Resulting in $145+ million in business investment via wages and training
in grant, state, and federal funding invested to start, grow, and sustain programs
Developed 35+ apprenticeship-to-career pathways towards economic mobility, including in healthcare, advanced manufacturing, education, construction, etc.
Section IV
What We’ve Learned: Ten Years of Building a Field
Ten years in, we’ve learned by doing; measuring relentlessly, adapting constantly.
Employer Participation Scales When Risk is Systemically Reduced.
Scaling apprenticeship sustainably depends on reducing the cost, complexity, and uncertainty of participation for employers. The biggest driver of employer risk is not wages, but the time and variability involved in supervising apprentices.
- Industry leadership enables sector-based growth
- Education system reform delivers workforce-ready participants
- Shared costs enable system solvency
If You Don’t Define Quality, You Won’t Scale It.
Rapid expansion without shared quality standards and continuous measurement doesn’t create a stronger system; it creates a fragmented one that erodes trust and outcomes.
- Shared standards protect quality across diverse contexts
- Youth voice serves as an early indicator system
- Continuous learning systems provide the guardrails
Clear Governance Makes Partnerships Work—and Results Last.
Durable pathways require deep collaboration where partners co-design solutions, share ownership, align incentives, and collectively ensure outcomes are realized and sustained.
- Define decision rights (who decides what, and when)
- Distribute accountability for outcomes
- Create enforcement mechanisms for quality
Section V
The Path Forward
After a decade of building, collaborating, and learning, CareerWise is looking ahead with renewed urgency and purpose.
Intelligent Infrastructure
Activating participation and retention through AI-enhanced tools, shared systems, and connected learning networks.
CareerWise is building the connective, AI-enhanced infrastructure that reduces friction for apprentices, employers, and ecosystem partners while supporting participation, completion, and retention. At the center of this strategy is the CareerWise Apprenticeship Hub—a unified digital platform with more than 34,000 users.
Spotlight: In Colorado, CareerWise is organizing industry leaders to develop a vocational and professional education and training pathway in advanced manufacturing, advancing SB 24-143.
Sector Mobilization
Empowering employers to lead industry-aligned pathways that meet real labor market demand.
CareerWise is supporting efforts to organize industry stakeholders around sector-specific occupational needs and shift design authority to employers. Scaling apprenticeship requires industry to lead pathway design and delivery.
Spotlight: In New York City, sector groups are advancing pathways in AI-oriented technology, clean energy, and healthcare—resulting in the FutureReadyNYC Healthcare Pathway Accelerator with Memorial Sloan Kettering and NewYork-Presbyterian.
System Activation & Reform
Driving systemic change through policy, funding reform, and research to scale high-quality apprenticeship.
Building on lessons from digital infrastructure and industry engagement, CareerWise is now focusing on systemic, research-informed work to remove structural barriers, align incentives, and scale high-quality apprenticeship across states.
Spotlight: National initiatives include the Education & Apprenticeship Accelerator (EAA), the Future Ready Apprenticeship Center, and U.S. CEMETS—a virtual institute bringing together a community of states.
Section VI
Youth Apprenticeship at a Critical Moment
How do we ensure the decade from high school to early adulthood is a launchpad for every young person to achieve their dreams?
Apprenticeship directly addresses each of the Three A’s. By offering earn-while-you-learn models, apprenticeships make career preparation affordable. By creating structured, transparent pathways with mentorship, they reduce anxiety through clarity and connection.
In 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor awarded nearly $84 million in grants to all 50 states to grow capacity in Registered Apprenticeship programs. At least 28 states have taken legislative action to expand and strengthen apprenticeship over the past two years.
This is not a call for pilot programs or incremental expansion. We need systems-level change. Our building evidence demonstrates apprenticeship works. What this moment demands is scale.
Together, we can build pathways that don’t just prepare young people to enter the workforce, but empower them to shape their own economic futures.
$84M
DOL grants to all 50 states for Registered Apprenticeship
$68M
California’s commitment to boost apprenticeship
28+
States with legislative action to expand apprenticeship
