HELENA — On Wednesday, Montana's nearly 3,000 apprenticeships were celebrated for their contribution to our communities and the Treasure State's economy for National Apprenticeship Day.
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“I learn a lot every day, and it is constantly changing," said Kyrie Pontarelli, an electrical apprentice in Helena. "You get real-life experience coming out of this as well."
Apprenticeship programs are structured training pathways that combine on-the-job experience with classroom instruction, allowing individuals to learn a trade or profession while earning a wage.
Over the past two years, Lewis & Clark County has led the state in apprenticeships.
Last year, the county saw just about six hundred active apprenticeships and almost five hundred so far this year.
Among those apprentices is Pontarelli, now in her fourth year at a program with the Montana Electrical Joint Apprenticeship and Training Center.
Pontarelli says,“It is really an investment in yourself for the long run and you know women can do it, men can do it, there’s a lot of benefits.”
More than 86% of apprentices in Montana are still with their employer sponsor five years after completing their apprenticeship.
Apprenticeships do not just help employers financially, but also the apprentices.
Sarah Swanson, the commissioner for the Montana Department of Labor & Industry, says, “It is not just a training program, it is a pathway to opportunity and prosperity and long-term success for those individuals, those businesses, and for Montana."
By year five, apprentices make more than $22,000 more than non-apprentice peers annually.
In 2024, half of the apprenticeships in Lewis & Clark County were for electricians like Kyrie.
“It is good to be seen because we are still the underdogs, you know," Pontarelli says. "I am a fourth-year apprentice myself, and it definitely matters that people see us for coming up in the world just like everybody else."
Over the next decade, DLI projects that 58 percent of job growth in Montana will be in apprentice occupations.
Click here for more information about apprenticeships in Montana.
