Today, Leaders for a Better Louisiana released new data detailing where Louisiana stands compared to peer states in terms of the number of high school students participating in internship and apprenticeship programs.
The full report is available online here.
Generally, the data show that while the number of students participating in work-based learning opportunities has grown in recent years, Louisiana is still lagging compared to other southern states.
“We support that Louisiana is encouraging more high school students to gain real work experience before graduation, and this report shows a baseline for the current number of internships and apprenticeships occurring,” said Adam Knapp, CEO of Leaders for a Better Louisiana. “As we grow this number, we encourage more businesses across the state to consider high school students as part of their workforce supply,” Knapp also said.
Better Louisiana’s data indicate that in 2023, the percentage of Louisiana high school students graduating with an internship credit was significantly higher than the two prior years and slightly exceeds the total before the pandemic. That number is still relatively low, however. Just over 2,000 of about 42,000 high school students graduated with an internship credit, or about 5% of the graduating class.
State-to-state comparisons are difficult to come by, but Georgia and Tennessee, where some data was available, indicated at least 15%-20% of students graduated with some kind of internship.
Broadly speaking the same is true for apprenticeships across the region. Louisiana has among the lowest percentage of high school apprentices in the South, and they are paid the lowest wages in the region. On the positive side, growth in total apprenticeships has grown by more than 11% over the last five years, the third highest improvement rate when compared to eight peer states. That moved Louisiana from 47th in the nation for new apprentices per capita to #40.
All of this is important because Louisiana has a serious leakage in the pipeline of students who transition from high school to postsecondary education and the workforce. This is born out in data from 2022. Of the 44,000 students in the high school that year, 50% are believed to have gone straight into the workforce without enrolling in 2-year or 4-year college, an opportunity for more high school internship and apprenticeship work experiences.
In January of this year, Better Louisiana co-hosted a summit with the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry to connect business leaders from across the state with education officials and employers who utilize apprenticeships and internships. The goal was to provide them with more information about the value of work-based learning, how it impacts their local high schools under the new school accountability system, and the ways it can help them meet their workforce needs.
One of the key findings from the summit was that Louisiana currently has two existing tax credits designed to support employers who hire apprentices or youth from disadvantaged circumstances. Both are significantly underutilized, have different rules, and do not align with the new school accountability system.
Better Louisiana is proposing legislation this session to combine those two credits into a streamlined program to make them more accessible to students, and encourage businesses to expand participation.
It is clear that expansion of work-based learning opportunities for high school students is the wave of the future. For students it allows them to learn in a real-world setting, enhancing their skills, and improving their employment opportunities.
It is also a benefit to employers when it comes to recruiting their future workforce and training young people in skills that meet their company’s needs. But in Louisiana, most businesses have little experience with internships and apprenticeships and often do not realize the potential benefits they offer.
“Better Louisiana believes the changes in the state’s school accountability system, which go into effect in August, will encourage students, schools, and employers to consider work-based learning opportunities in ways they never have before. We recommend the state provide a significant incentive to businesses to provide high school students important intern and apprentice experiences,” Knapp said.
The ultimate goal is to help Louisiana students gain access to the skills they need to find meaningful careers while strengthening and expanding the state’s workforce.
For the full data report, visit this link.