Longitudinal follow-up studies of Youth Apprentice graduates have not been done since 1997. Studies of graduates from 1994 to 1997 have found that large majority students intend to enroll in four colleges after graduation. Higher percentages than the average for Wisconsin high school graduates. The jobs that youth apprenticeship graduates are qualified for require only short or moderate length on the job training. Youth Apprenticeship programs may be good educational programs and beneficial to students who participate in them, as well as a source of modest income while going to high school.
Employers benefit from well trained workers who work for modest wages.
However few students who actually intend to go to work in the youth apprentice major after high school are enrolled. And even if most graduates did go to work after graduation the number of graduates are insignificant. Of 45 Consortiums the average number of graduates was 12. The effect of youth apprenticeships on Wisconsin s workforce is insignificant as indicated by the 1999 Public Policy Research study previously cited. In reality a majority of German students in secondary schools or colleges are not able to work while attending school even in the summer because the unemployment rates are so high jobs are kept for adults and youth who need to work and are not students.