More Idahoans than ever before are using Registered Apprenticeship as a path to advance their job opportunities. For women in the workforce, apprenticeships like those managed by Idaho Health Care Association (IHCA) have proven beneficial in transforming their careers and filling gaps in Idaho’s labor market.
Category Archives: Students
Interviewing workshop available for teens at Meridian Library
Summer months are the peak of youth employment, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Last July, the bureau reported 55.3% of youth ages 16 to 24 were employed in the U.S., slightly more than in 2021.
To get that summer job, however, requires some prep work, such as learning valuable skills. Sometimes young people need a leg-up and a little extra help to succeed in a career they love.
In southwestern Idaho, teens have the opportunity to learn some of those skills and gain a head-start in their career by attending a free workshop, Feb. 22. The event takes place from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at the Meridian Library.
8th Grade Career Explorations curriculum now teaches Idaho students about apprenticeship
NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: Jan. 11, 2023
Media Contact: Jolene.Montoya@idla.k12.id.us
Idaho students will be able to take the updated 8th Grade Career Explorations course containing a brand-new apprenticeship lesson starting this spring.
The Idaho Digital Learning Alliance and the Idaho Department of Labor’s Apprenticeship Idaho team have created a new online lesson to meet the needs of the state’s students, businesses and industry sectors. The new class is the first collaboration of its kind between government, businesses and educators in promoting the occupational success of Idaho’s youth.
Idaho’s First Lady reads new children’s book to kick off Apprenticeship Week
NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: Nov. 17, 2022
Media Contact: Gina.Robison@labor.idaho.gov
Teresa Little at reading event
“Booper Dreams Big: An Almost True Story of Apprenticeship,” is a new Idaho children’s book released today as part of National Apprenticeship Week in Idaho (Nov. 14-20).
Idaho’s First Lady Teresa Little read the new children’s book to a class of third graders at Owyhee Elementary in Nampa as an early kick-off of National Apprenticeship Week. Continue reading
Apprenticeship collaboration connects Idaho health clinics with talent
Mariah Aripa holds her dental assisting apprenticeship completion certificate. Photo courtesy of ICHCA.
Idaho’s labor market has been tight since the pandemic, particularly for specialized industries like health care.
Health clinics already face a heavy administrative burden and managing and paying for training is a big obstacle that gets in the way of staffing and talent recruitment. The Idaho Community Health Centers Association is trying to solve this problem through apprenticeship training and funding coordination. Continue reading
OPINION: Registered Apprenticeships benefit Idaho’s people, economy
Thursday, November 10, 2022
By Jani Revier, director of Idaho Department of Labor
Nov. 14-20 is National Apprenticeship Week and marks the 
celebration of a proven and time-honored career pathway. Right now, 236 Idaho businesses sponsor apprenticeships, with more than 1,800 participating Idahoans getting paid on the job.
Like many Americans, Idahoans have seen sharp increases in housing costs while the consumer price index has risen 8.2% in just one year. Facing these circumstances, Idaho’s workforce needs competitive job opportunities now more than ever, and the state’s employers need the labor. Continue reading
Seniors Benefit from AmeriCorps Senior Companion Programs in Idaho
Research has shown volunteers 55 and older who serve as senior companions often find they also reap significant financial and health benefits from the experience.
Idaho’s AmeriCorps Seniors Companion volunteers visit homes, help the person leave the house to go shopping, to doctor appointments and even the senior center for bingo. Volunteers also help with bills, laundry and engage in conversation over a cup of coffee.
According to a study on AmeriCorps senior programs,* benefits for individuals getting assistance include:
- Spending time with others.
- Living in their home.
- Cost of living stays down. The median monthly cost of an assisted living facility is $4,051 compared to the mean monthly housing expenditure of $1,505. Annual cost savings reach $30,552 per person.
- Improved health and decreased hospital visits. The federal government saved nearly $59 million each year on Medicare and Medicaid health care expenditures.
Labor workforce services branch out to Idaho’s local libraries
Twenty-four libraries across Idaho are increasing their resources to offer job seeker services to their nearby rural communities, and the Idaho Commission for Libraries hopes more will participate.
Job seekers in communities like Challis, Priest River, Kuna and New Meadows can now find help with writing resumes, earning their GED, going back to school and on-the-job training – all at their local library. Continue reading
Idaho youth continue growing through Idaho Job Corps
NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: April 4, 2022
Media Contact: Tina Polishchuk, Ed.D, tina.polishchuk@labor.idaho.gov
When Idaho Job Corps welcomed its first group of students in October 2019 at its first location in Nampa, it was a three-year national demonstration project, piloting a new approach to serving youth. Idaho Job Corps is now readily accessible to Idaho’s youth in four locations across the state.
The overall goal? Eventually Serve 750 income-eligible students, ages 16-24, by training them for the workforce.
Today, the program is thriving. Idaho Job Corps and the Idaho Department of Labor partner with the College of Western Idaho, College of Eastern Idaho, College of Southern Idaho and North Idaho College to deliver education, training and a whole host of wrap-around services to low-income students with barriers to employment.
To date, some 145 students have already moved through the program, and Idaho Job Corps is serving 195 students throughout the system – 43 of those enrolled just this year. Continue reading
Apprenticeship Profile: Idaho Forest Group creates new careers for its employees.
Billie Jo Spencer, a filer bencher apprentice at the Moyie Springs sawmill near Bonners Ferry for Idaho Forest Group (IFG), has been moving up the pay scale by increasing her job skills through IFG and Idaho Department of Labor apprenticeship programs.
Billie Jo Spencer
The Moyie Springs mill produces about 200 million board feet of dimension lumber products per year. It requires a skilled work force to keep the mill running smoothly and efficiently, IFG officials say.
Spencer started working for IFG 12 years ago, driving a fork lift. She completed the Filer-Fitter apprenticeship a couple years ago, and she’s working on her second apprenticeship as a saw filer.
“I’m always learning something,” she says. “I’m putting teeth in the saws and welding the shoulders.”
There are three levels of being a filer bencher, Spencer says. She’s on level one right now, and hopes to continue to move up to the higher levels. IFG mills are highly automated for efficiency. At the Moyie mill, raw logs are rough-cut by special machinery as they enter the mill on a conveyer belt. Farther down the line, the large blocks of wood are sawed into stud lumber in 8- and 9-foot- long sections. Continue reading