Workforce in Focus

MI Testifies before Senate HELP Committee

By MI NewsroomNovember 14, 2025
Young manufacturing worker operating machinery during MFG Day event.
A young professional in safety glasses and mask demonstrates manufacturing equipment at the Manufacturing Institute's MFG Day event.

Last week, Chief Program Officer Gardner Carrick shared lessons from the success of the FAME USA program with the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. As one of five workforce experts asked to serve as a witness, he provided testimony to the committee about how the U.S. Department of Labor’s Registered Apprenticeship program can be strengthened to meet workforce, and specifically, manufacturers’, needs.

In his opening remarks, Carrick says that for manufacturing apprenticeships to be high-quality, rigorous, responsive and scalable, they must be employer-led.

  • “If we can support employers in establishing apprenticeships, provide targeted incentives to grow and formalize their program and reduce the cost of compliance for registering their apprenticeship program, we believe that employers in the manufacturing sector will come to see Registered Apprenticeship as an indispensable tool in their workforce development pipeline,” said Carrick.

Carrick’s testimony drew from the MI team’s decades of experience advancing apprenticeship policy and implementation. We are proud to serve as a resource and source of expertise for manufacturers and policymakers working to strengthen the workforce of the future.