Taking on an apprentice in the United States: Registered Apprenticeship for an employer
The five building blocks Apprenticeship.gov gives an employer that starts a Registered Apprenticeship program, and the funding and state tax credit pages the Department of Labor links.
Checked against the sources at the bottom of this page on October 9, 2026. Rules, fees and pay change: the source has the last word.
This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here.
Apprenticeship.gov is the US Department of Labor site for Registered Apprenticeship. Its approved occupations for tree work, with their hours, are in the apprenticeships by country guide. This page covers the employer side as the Department's pages state it on October 9, 2026. None of the pages read is written for tree work.
The five building blocks
The Department's employer page sets out five building blocks and says an employer can start at any of them.
- “Explore.” The page describes this block as learning what apprenticeship offers and how other employers and sponsors run programs across industries and regions.
- “Build.” It describes reviewing the options and the steps for building a program, with the tools the Department offers.
- “Partner.” It describes working with apprenticeship representatives, workforce organizations, educators and others.
- “Register.” The page says registering gives access to funding opportunities, tax credits and "no-cost technical assistance".
- “Launch.” It describes recruiting apprentices, then measuring and monitoring the program and sharing its results.
The page also describes an Express Interest button for employers and says it will connect the employer to an apprenticeship consultant.
What the funding page lists
The Department's page on investments, tax credits and tuition support lists open grant and contract opportunities and active grants and contracts. It names Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act funding, which it says is allotted to states and run by local Workforce Development Boards. It also links a page of state tax credits and tuition support, and a way to find an apprenticeship consultant in the area who can explain funding and reimbursement options.
State tax credits: three entries as the Department lists them
The state page is a list, state by state, of the laws the Department has recorded. It carries no date and some entries carry their own end dates, so each entry below is only what the page says.
| State | What the Department's page says |
|---|---|
| Arkansas | Income tax credit for each qualified youth apprentice aged at least 16: US$2,000 or 10% of the wages earned by the youth apprentice, whichever is less. The credit cannot exceed the tax otherwise due, and unused credit carries forward for a maximum of two consecutive years. |
| Colorado | Businesses in enterprise zones can earn a state income tax credit of 12% of eligible job training costs for employees and apprentices working in the zone. The page lists other incentives and grants too. |
| Florida | The legislature has appropriated US$30 million to a grant program to set up or expand apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs. The page says the state does not offer businesses an apprenticeship tax credit. |
The page's California entry names a corporate income tax credit program for new jobs and capital investment and says funds let community colleges provide most instruction for apprenticeship programs. The other states have their own entries, which differ in amount, age limits and end dates.
Sources
- US Department of Labor, Apprenticeship.gov Registered Apprenticeship program for employers, read October 9, 2026
- US Department of Labor, Apprenticeship.gov Investments, tax credits and tuition support, read October 9, 2026
- US Department of Labor, Apprenticeship.gov State tax credits and tuition support, read October 9, 2026
- US Department of Labor, Apprenticeship.gov Express interest instructions, read October 9, 2026