🔒Bordonaro: Lawmakers should ease state’s apprenticeship hiring ratio

Workforce development will be a key issue at the legislature this session, as Connecticut tries to fill approximately 73,000 unfilled jobs.

One common-sense policy lawmakers should embrace is reducing the state’s apprenticeship hiring ratio, which supporters say would help bolster Connecticut’s trade industry workforce.

Opponents have argued the change could lead to the deterioration of apprenticeship programs.

The issue has come up repeatedly in the state legislature in recent years, but has failed to garner enough support.

The state Department of Consumer Protection imposes a so-called “hiring ratio” on contracting companies in electrical, plumbing, pipe fitting, HVAC and metal-working trades. The rule is a bit technical, but it essentially requires contractors to have a certain number of licensed journeymen on staff for each apprentice they hire.

The rule allows contractors to hire up to three apprentices at a 1:1 ratio. That means a company must have three licensed journeymen on staff if it wants three apprentices. It would need two journeymen for two apprentices.

After the first three apprentice hires, employers must abide by a 1:3 ratio. That means for each new apprentice, a company must have three additional journeymen.

So, a company with 12 licensed journeymen can only have six apprentices on staff.

Several bills, pushed mostly by GOP lawmakers, have already been raised this year in the Labor and Public Employees Committee to reduce, or even eliminate the hiring ratio. It’s a top issue for numerous groups, including the Associated Builders and Contractors of Connecticut and Home Builders & Remodelers Association of Connecticut.

Advocates for the change argue the current ratio restricts licensed contractors from bringing on new hires to work in the trades, which are significantly understaffed.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been promoting apprenticeships as a valuable workforce development tool, especially for individuals not destined for a traditional four-year college degree.

If that’s true, Connecticut ought to make it as easy as possible for the trades to hire apprentices, especially as the state’s workforce continues to age.

There is, of course, another side to the debate.

Proponents of the 1:3 ratio, including some labor unions, say it ensures less experienced and unlicensed workers are properly supervised. They also argue it prevents contractors from hiring a large number of apprentices who can serve as cheaper labor compared to more experienced workers, some of whom belong to unions.

Proponents also said contractors can ask the state Department of Labor for “ratio relief,” or a waiver that allows companies to continue to hire at a 1:1 ratio, even after they’ve brought on three apprentices. That precludes the need to change the current ratio policy, they argue.

While those are valid points to consider, the fact that industry continues to make this a top issue signifies the 1:3 ratio remains a burden to hiring.

As the 2025 session moves forward, there will be plenty of talk about spending more money on programs to boost the state’s workforce. But one of the easiest and cheapest ways to improve the business climate is through regulatory reforms — easing red tape that businesses must cut through to grow or expand their operations.

Reducing the state’s apprenticeship hiring ratio is a step in the right direction.