Characteristics of United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America apprentice graduates of completing the apprenticeship program in Illinois

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to discover the characteristics of union apprentice graduates that lead to completion of the registered apprenticeship program. Low level of completion and cancellation rates of apprenticeship training programs is a loss of workforce investment to contractors and the construction industry. Factors affecting the completion of the apprenticeship are characteristics of apprentice graduates (age, level of education, marital status, employers, union involvement) and barriers (work ethic, attitude, awareness, financial and job related). This study was designed to answer the research questions through an online survey of the apprentice graduates from the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters from the years 2013-2016. The Survey consisted of two sections, characteristics of apprentice graduates and job satisfaction using the Abridged Job Descriptive Index (JDI) and the Abridged Job in General (JIG) to measure job satisfaction. Of the 300 graduate apprentices, 93 completed the online survey. Data was compiled and analyzed using a decision classification tree model to understand the relationship between the independent and dependent variables creating a model. The most important demographic characteristics found to determine apprenticeship completion included age group, marital status, education and number of contractors for whom they worked.