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As PAYA’s learning and evaluation partner, our team at is committed to providing a comprehensive, evidence-backed review of the field of youth apprenticeship. Using recent data from PAYA grantees, we examined how youth apprenticeship programs can provide access to economic opportunities, specifically reducing gender gaps in workforce participation and wages.

A decade of national data confirms that youth apprenticeship continues to show significant gender disparities in participation, representation, and outcomes. of 10 years of federal Registered Apprenticeship data on youth in Registered Apprenticeships�� (ages 16-24)�� found that young women represented only 11 percent of youth apprentices in 2020—although this was a significant improvement from 5 percent in 2011.

The stark gender imbalance in youth apprenticeship participation can be explained in part by programs’ traditional focus on male-dominated trades, although in recent years apprenticeship programs have expanded into non-traditional industries and occupations. Occupational segregation and the significantly higher wages offered in male-dominated fields have translated into large , reflecting similar gaps among adult earners. Young men were most likely to apprentice as electricians, plumbers/pipefitters/steamfitters, and carpenters, earning an average of $31/hour, compared to only $18/hour for female apprentices, most commonly apprenticing as pharmacy technicians, certified nursing assistants, or child care workers.

Equal Measure reviewed and analyzed data submitted by nine PAYA-funded partnerships (with one additional grantee that had no active apprentices) across eight states in 2025. The grantee data showed:��

• 2,066 young people participated in youth apprenticeships through these partnerships.
• Apprentices participated in 267 occupations across 17 industries.
• The highest share of youth apprenticeships was in the construction industry (31 percent).

When the PAYA data were disaggregated, they showed young women were underrepresented in youth apprenticeships. However, female participation in PAYA grantees’ apprenticeships was significantly higher than in national data (26 percent versus 11 percent).��

• 74 percent of PAYA youth apprentices (1,509) were young men.��
• 26 percent of PAYA youth apprentices (534) were young women.

The industries in which PAYA youth apprentices were working showed significant gender segregation (Figure 1). Among the five industries with the most youth apprentices, three were predominantly male (construction, manufacturing, and other services) and two were predominantly female (health care and social assistance and educational services). This distribution closely follows the

While research has shown that workers (both men and women) in predominantly male occupations are paid higher wages than workers in female-dominated occupations, PAYA grantee data shows a different story regarding gender, industry, and wages.��

Surprisingly, the highest median hourly wages ($16.50/hour) for youth apprentices in PAYA grantees’ programs were in predominantly female industries — health care and social assistance and in educational services. Yet, within those two industries, young male apprentices earned $2.70 to $3.00 more per hour than young female apprentices (Figure 2).

These findings are likely driven by two factors:

• State-level wage differences. A relatively larger percentage of apprentices in health care and social assistance and educational services were in California (at PAYA grantees ECEPTS and LAUNCH Apprenticeship Network), which has the highest minimum wage ($16.90/hour) of the states where PAYA grantees are located. In contrast, almost all the apprentices in construction and manufacturing were located in North Carolina (PAYA grantee is ApprenticeshipNC), with the lowest minimum wage of $7.25/hour. The variations by state in minimum wage make it challenging to isolate the roles gender and industry play on wages among PAYA grantees’ apprentices.
• Sample size. The higher median wages for young men in health care and social assistance and in educational services may be due to small sample sizes for men in those industries. PAYA grantees reported only 35 male apprentices in health care and social assistance (compared to 168 women) and 18 male apprentices in educational services (compared to 171 women). These small sample sizes limit our ability to make generalizations based on these findings.

Increasing gender equity in apprenticeships will require both systemic changes to wage structures, cultural biases about “women’s work,” and workplace discrimination and harassment—as well as changes in how apprenticeship programs are designed and implemented. A notes “Apprenticeships have the potential to increase the number of women in nontraditional occupations because they provide employers with a strategy for hiring and training workers who otherwise might not have been hired.”

Approaches that can help improve gender equity in apprenticeship programs include:

• Broadening employer participation. Further expanding the apprenticeship model beyond male-dominated trades into other industries such as health care, education, and technology may provide a welcoming entry point for young women into apprenticeships.
• Improving recruitment, placement, and retention of young women in traditionally male fields. The Urban Institute’s report cites women-only training programs, pre-apprenticeship programs, and supportive services as helpful in increasing recruitment and retention of women in trades occupations.
• Tailoring materials and messaging. Ensuring career materials and training content are inclusive of young women, as well as mentoring, can help address internal and external stereotypes about who “belongs” in different career fields.��
• in traditionally male-dominated industries.

Apprenticeships, particularly those in higher-paying fields, are proven to lead to economic mobility and should be accessible to all. Employers will also benefit when a broad cross-section of young people can explore promising career paths without limiting their horizons because of their gender.

Achieving gender equity in apprenticeships will require intentional efforts from a broad coalition of stakeholders. Despite reflecting much of the national data on gender differences in youth apprenticeships, PAYA’s data on their grantees’ high-quality apprenticeship programs showed some improvement in increasing access for young women, indicating opportunities for progress.��

Important questions remain. Sample sizes did not allow us to examine the intersectionality of gender with race and ethnicity, however, the using federal Registered Apprenticeship data found that Black youth were underrepresented in apprenticeships. More research into how gender and race interact to hinder or advance opportunities in apprenticeships and in industries that lead to high-paying jobs can help uncover more strategies to ensure apprenticeship programs offer opportunity for all.