'Apprentice' president guts US apprenticeships after big promises: labor official

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the annual Thanksgiving turkey pardoning ceremony in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., November 25, 2025. REUTERS Nathan Howard

Washington Monthly writer Anne Kim reports the president and former star of “The Apprentice” vowed to “reach and surpass 1 million new active apprentices,” before surrendering his commitment to funding cuts, grant cancellations, and layoffs.

Trump directed the Department of Labor to deliver his commitment to surpass 1 million new active apprentices within 120 days in an April executive order, but Kim reports that deadline has passed, “with no evidence of progress or even a plan to reach the one-million apprenticeship milestone.”

“Instead, drastic layoffs, funding cuts, and a purge of ‘DEI’-related initiatives have sabotaged the emerging apprenticeship movement. Growth in apprenticeships is at its slowest in years, far more sluggish than during Joe Biden’s administration or even [Trump’s] first term,” said Kim.

“I don’t see them getting to 1 million apprentices till 2032,” Former Department of Labor senior staffer Nick Beadle told Kim.

The number of new apprentices has grown by only about 3 percent so far, according to Zach Boren, Senior Vice President of Apprenticeships for America and the former chief of registered apprenticeship and policy for the Department of Labor.

“We’ve got a White House that has really good talking points on apprenticeship, but no road map,” Boren said.

“One major problem: the gutting of the DOL’s Office of Apprenticeships, first by Elon Musk’s DOGE initiative, and then by the exodus of key staff,” said Kim. “There’s literally no one available to write a plan, let alone implement it.”

The office lost its national director and several division chiefs, and staffing levels are down by as much as 30 percent, according to Boren. The website for the national office lists just three people, all of them designated as working in an “acting” capacity.

“The Department of Labor, and especially the Office of Apprenticeship, are running on fumes,” said Boren.

The Trump administration has also paused or canceled grants for apprenticeship programs and apprenticeship research, which means fewer resources for recruiting and preparing candidates, helping employers and community colleges launch programs, or evaluating their effectiveness.

In fact, at least $30 million in funding appropriated by Congress last year was never spent and has expired, said Beadle.

Meanwhile, Trump’s executive order “Ending Radical and Wasteful DEI Programs,” has purged websites, data, and programs perceived to promote diversity. And the administration canceled dozens of grants under the Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations (WANTO) program established in 1992 by President George H.W. Bush.

“Much as he did on his show, Trump seems to favor a particular kind of apprentice,” said Kim, pointing to a recent Department of Labor social media campaign featuring what’s “presumably Trump’s ideal: a blond, broad-shouldered, AI-generated Aryan avatar ripped straight from the manosphere, with a chiseled jaw and a cleft chin.”

Historians say the style of the DOL posts evoke “historical government propaganda, including posters from New Deal-era America and fascist Europe,” but Kim said propaganda is probably the most Trump’s commitment to apprenticeships will amount to.

“Like so many of his promises to his working-class base, ‘one million apprenticeships’ will likely prove hollow,” Kim said.

Read the Washington Monthly report at this link

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