Guide to RAPIDS apprenticeship data reporting for DOL-registered sponsors.

RAPIDS — the Registered Apprenticeship Partners Information Database System — is the U.S. Department of Labor’s national data system for registered apprenticeship programs. It is administered by the Office of Apprenticeship within the Employment and Training Administration and supports both federally registered programs and the State Apprenticeship Agency (SAA) network in the twenty-five states with state-recognized SAAs. The legal basis for registered apprenticeship sits in the National Apprenticeship Act of 1937 (29 USC §50 et seq.) and the implementing regulations at 29 CFR Part 29 and 29 CFR Part 30 (the equal-employment-opportunity regulations for apprenticeship). Registered sponsors are required to submit data to RAPIDS on apprentice registration, status changes (active, suspended, completed, cancelled, transferred), wage progression through the program’s wage schedule, related technical instruction completion, on-the-job training hours completion, and program completion or cancellation. Sponsors with substantial program operations submit data quarterly through state-level submission processes that flow to RAPIDS; smaller sponsors submit through their state apprenticeship office. The data feeds DOL’s public apprenticeship dashboards, the program-level performance metrics that drive Office of Apprenticeship oversight, and increasingly the state-level workforce and education accountability data systems that integrate apprenticeship outcomes with WIOA and Perkins V data. The 2024-2025 RAPIDS modernization initiative under the Apprenticeship Building America (ABA) and related grant programs has tightened data validation, expanded demographic and equal-opportunity reporting under 29 CFR Part 30, and added integration points with state-level data systems. Sponsors operating in 2026 should expect tighter data quality expectations and more granular performance reporting than was typical in the pre-2022 environment.

A registered apprenticeship under 29 CFR §29.5 must include five core components. First, an apprenticeship agreement between the sponsor and the apprentice that specifies the occupation, the term, the wage progression schedule, the related technical instruction (RTI) requirement, and other required terms. Second, structured on-the-job learning under the supervision of a journey-level worker, with documented competency development across the apprenticeship term. Third, related technical instruction — typically a minimum of 144 hours per year of apprenticeship in technical instruction related to the occupation, delivered through a community college, technical school, joint apprenticeship training committee, or in-house training. Fourth, a progressively increasing wage schedule that pays the apprentice a percentage of the journey-level wage, escalating across the apprenticeship term. Fifth, completion of the program leading to nationally recognized credentialing as a journey-level worker. Apprenticeship programs can be time-based (typically two to four years), competency-based (apprentice progresses on demonstrated competency rather than fixed time), or hybrid. The registered designation distinguishes these programs from non-registered apprenticeship-style training. Industry-Recognized Apprenticeship Programs (IRAPs), introduced under a 2020 rule that was substantially constrained by 2024 administrative action, offered an alternative pathway with industry-led recognition rather than DOL registration; IRAPs continue to exist in some sectors but with reduced federal support relative to registered apprenticeship. Pre-apprenticeship programs operate upstream of registered apprenticeship without the formal agreement structure; they prepare candidates for registered-apprenticeship entry through skills training, work-readiness programming, and connections to apprenticeship sponsors. The DOL Quality Pre-Apprenticeship Framework lays out expectations for pre-apprenticeship program design, with linkages to registered apprenticeship being a defining feature.

Career-assessment platforms fit the registered apprenticeship pipeline at three points. First, in pre-apprenticeship programs that recruit and prepare candidates for registered apprenticeship entry. Pre-apprenticeship programs typically serve populations — dislocated workers, opportunity youth, transitioning service members, formerly incarcerated individuals — for whom apprenticeship is a substantial pathway change requiring career-decision support before commitment. The platform output supports the candidate-fit conversation: is the candidate’s interest profile, aptitude profile, and self-rated skill base aligned with the destination occupation, and is the candidate ready for the multi-year time commitment that registered apprenticeship requires? Second, in apprenticeship-sponsor recruitment and selection. Sponsors recruit candidates through job postings, partner-organization referrals, pre-apprenticeship pipelines, and sometimes career-services partnerships. Sponsor selection processes vary widely — some sponsors use formal aptitude testing (the General Aptitude Test Battery or industry-specific instruments), some use interview-based selection, some use both. Career-assessment platforms can supplement sponsor selection with interest and trait profiles, particularly for sponsors who recruit broadly and need additional fit-and-trajectory signal. Third, in workforce-system referral pipelines. Local workforce boards refer customers to apprenticeship as one of several training options under WIOA Title I, and the comprehensive assessment that supports the referral typically includes career-assessment platform output. JobCannon supports the first and third uses through standard per-customer assessment exports; the second is sponsor-specific and depends on whether the sponsor formally incorporates external assessment data into its selection process.

29 CFR Part 30 establishes the equal-employment-opportunity requirements for registered apprenticeship and was substantially updated in 2016 with continuing modernization through 2024. The regulation prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), sexual orientation, age (40 or older), genetic information, or disability in apprenticeship recruitment, selection, employment, and training. Sponsors with five or more apprentices must develop a written affirmative action program with utilization analysis (comparing the demographic composition of the apprenticeship workforce to the relevant labor pool), placement goals, and outreach activities to recruit underrepresented populations. Apprenticeship selection procedures must be reviewed for adverse impact under the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (29 CFR Part 1607) and validated where adverse impact is found. The validation requirement applies to any selection procedure used by the sponsor: aptitude tests, structured interviews, work-sample tests, education and experience requirements. Career-assessment platforms used by sponsors for selection are subject to the same validation expectation. JobCannon’s production posture is that the platform output supports career-decision conversations and pre-selection candidate fit but is not designed as an EEO-validated selection instrument; sponsors using the output as part of selection should treat it as one input among several, document the role it plays in the selection process, and ensure the overall selection process meets adverse-impact and validation expectations under Part 30 and Part 1607. Sponsors using assessment platforms for pre-apprenticeship support, where the platform output supports the candidate’s decision rather than the sponsor’s selection, do not face the same validation expectations because the platform is not an employer selection instrument in that role.

Apprenticeship Building America (ABA) is a series of DOL grant programs supporting expansion of registered apprenticeship beyond traditional construction and manufacturing into new occupations, particularly in healthcare, IT, advanced manufacturing, and increasingly clean energy and semiconductors. ABA funding flows through state apprenticeship agencies, intermediary organizations, and direct sponsor grants. Beyond ABA, the DOL Apprenticeship and Workforce Innovation Fund and CHIPS-Act-aligned semiconductor apprenticeship grants have added substantial federal investment in apprenticeship expansion through 2025. The programmatic implications for 2026 sponsor design are threefold. First, expansion into new occupations requires new program standards and new RTI partnerships, which often takes 12-24 months to mature; sponsors that started this work in 2022-2023 are now operational, while later starters are still in development. Second, equity-of-access expectations under ABA grant terms typically include explicit recruitment commitments to underrepresented populations, pre-apprenticeship pipeline development, and reporting of demographic outcomes; sponsors operating under ABA terms should expect their RAPIDS data to be scrutinized for equity outcomes more than was typical in pre-ABA times. Third, the integration with state and federal workforce systems is tightening; apprenticeship outcomes are increasingly tracked alongside WIOA and Perkins V outcomes, which means RAPIDS-to-state-data-system integration is operationally important. Career-assessment platforms support equity-of-access goals by providing low-barrier entry assessments accessible to candidates from diverse backgrounds, and support pre-apprenticeship pipeline development by giving program staff per-candidate profile data for individualized planning. Platform contribution to RAPIDS data quality is indirect; the apprentice records in RAPIDS come from sponsor administrative records, not from the platform.

Office of Apprenticeship monitoring and State Apprenticeship Agency review of registered programs typically occurs on a multi-year cycle and covers programmatic compliance with 29 CFR Part 29 and equal-employment-opportunity compliance with 29 CFR Part 30. The documentation set has seven layers. First, the registered standards document and any approved amendments — the foundational program design including occupation, term, wage schedule, RTI requirements, and OJL framework. Second, the apprenticeship agreement file per apprentice — signed agreements documenting the apprentice’s registration, agreed terms, and any amendments. Third, OJL and RTI completion records per apprentice — documenting hours completed, competencies demonstrated, and progression through the program. Fourth, wage progression records demonstrating that apprentices received the wage schedule on time. Fifth, completion or cancellation records with appropriate cause documentation. Sixth, EEO records per Part 30 including written affirmative action program, utilization analyses, outreach activities, applicant flow data, and any adverse-impact analyses on selection procedures. Seventh, RAPIDS submission records reconcilable to the underlying administrative data. Career-assessment platform documentation supports pre-apprenticeship recruitment and selection records but is typically not part of the registered-program monitoring file unless the sponsor formally incorporates it. Pre-apprenticeship program operators — typically separate organizations from the registered sponsor though sometimes affiliated — maintain their own documentation set covering recruitment, selection, training, and pipeline outcomes; assessment platform output sits in this file as evidence of candidate-fit work and individualized planning. JobCannon’s production posture supports per-candidate export with timestamps suitable for either workflow.