The U.S. Department of Labor has awarded nearly $84 million in grants to 50 states and territories to increase the capacity of registered apprenticeship programs; however, America’s “will to work” is being questioned.

The DOL says the grants represent “an important step toward meeting the administration’s goal of expanding the program to 1 million active apprentices.”

“Registered apprenticeships are a vital tool for skills development, national economic competitiveness, business growth, and individual opportunity,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer, in a press release. “They will become even more important as President Trump continues to create jobs in critical sectors like manufacturing and construction. I am committed to providing states and territories with the resources needed to meet their unique economic demands. Together, we will achieve President Trump’s goal of 1 million new active apprentices.”

The funding advances the expansion of Registered Apprenticeships in both traditional and emerging industries, including technology, artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, supply chain, transportation, building trades, and construction.

The full list of award recipients can be viewed here.

But Mike Rowe, a longtime TV personality and CEO of the mikeroweWORKS Foundation, which champions careers in the skilled trades, has also addressed the disappearance of America’s “willingness to work.”

“The skills gap is real,” he said in a Fox Business interview. “The will gap is also real.”

Just as he rooted for former President Barack Obama’s creation of 3 million “shovel-ready” jobs 16 years ago, Rowe said he’s rooting for President Donald Trump’s efforts to reshore manufacturing in the U.S. aimed at job creation.

He said he wrote to Obama in 2009 that nobody was talking about “the country’s relationship with the shovel and the conspicuous lack of enthusiasm surrounding the business of picking one up.”

According to Rowe, 6.8 million “able-bodied men” are unemployed and not looking for work. Currently, there are 586,000 open manufacturing jobs, for example, and he said that’s a big problem.

“If we can’t fill the 586,000 [job openings] we have right now, what are we going to do with the 1 or 2 million that get created? …Part of the answer has to be making a more persuasive case for the jobs that currently exist,” he said. “It’s a problem with many solutions.”

Rowe’s foundation has given $2.5 million in trade school scholarships and has awarded over $12 million in Work Ethic Scholarships.

“We, right now, are the product of decades of cookie-cutter advice that [has] impacted the way we think about education and the way that we also think about work,” Rowe said on Fox Business. “That’s a problem. I don’t want to paint with too broad a brush… My goal with mikeroweWORKS is not to help the maximum number of people. It’s to help a number of people who comport with our view of the world and are willing to go to where the work is and who are willing to demonstrate something that looks a lot like work ethic here in 2025.”

Furthering Rowe’s point, the “About Us” page on his foundation’s website states that, “Over the last 30 years, America has convinced itself that the best path for the most people is an expensive, four-year degree.”

“Pop culture has glorified the ‘corner office job’ while unintentionally belittling the jobs that helped build the corner office,” it states. “As a result, our society has devalued any other path to success and happiness. Community colleges, trade schools, and apprenticeship programs are labeled as ‘alternative.’ Millions of well-intended parents and guidance counselors see apprenticeships and on-the-job training opportunities as ‘vocational consolation prizes,’ best suited for those not cut out for the brass ring: a four-year degree. The push for higher education has coincided with the removal of vocational arts from high schools nationwide. And the effects of this one-two punch have laid the foundation for a widening skills gap and massive student loan debt.”

The mission of Rowe’s foundation is similar to that of the skilled trades industries, including collision repair, to remove the stigma that careers in the trades are inferior.

“We’ve proven that opportunities in the trades aren’t alternatives to viable careers — they are viable careers,” the mikeroweWORKS Foundation website states. “Through this program, we encourage people to learn a useful skill, and we reward those who demonstrate that they’ll work their butts off. When it comes to hard work, there is no alternative.”

Moneywise points to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which shows that women’s participation in the workforce has remained relatively stable since the early 1990s, while men’s has steadily dropped from 86.6% in 1948 to 68% in 2024.

“Notably, 28% of these men said they were not working by choice, validating Rowe’s claim that the desire for employment has diminished,” Moneywise states. “However, the survey also found that 57% of prime-age men cite mental or physical health issues as barriers to working or job-seeking, suggesting that many are not as ‘able-bodied’ as Rowe assumes. Additionally, 47% of these men cite a lack of training and education, obsolete skills, or a lackluster work history as major obstacles to employment.”

The article also notes that more than half of prime-age unemployed men surveyed by the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) said health insurance is a major factor in returning to work. The survey also found that the participation rate for men in their “prime working years,” between the ages of 25 and 54, fell from 98% in September 1954 to 89% in January 2024.

Skilled trades are facing a skills gap, in large part, due to retirement, as there aren’t enough younger people to fill those positions.

TechForce Foundation’s latest Technician Supply & Demand report, released in December 2023, found that 795,000 new automotive, diesel, collision repair, aviation, and avionics technicians are still needed to meet demand through 2027. In collision repair, 110,000 techs are needed.

The results of a 2023 technician survey by I-CAR, the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS), and Ducker Carlisle show that shop culture, management, and overall team environment have a significant impact on career satisfaction and job longevity. In fact, culture is one of the top five reasons why technicians stay with their current employer, while bad culture and not feeling valued are the No. 1 reasons why survey respondents said they left their jobs.

The Moneywise article states other benefits that factor into men deciding to work are paid sick leave, disability accommodations, flexible schedules, and medical leave.

“Additionally, 40% of respondents said mental health benefits are very important, and 28% said they might have stayed at their previous job if they had access to paid medical leave,” the article says.

Images

Featured image: K&M Collision file photo/Lurah Lowery

More information

Survey finds Gen Z work ethic perception incorrect, trades education enrollment on the rise