The Other 4-Year Degree is the Department of Labor blog post, authored by Tom Perez, Secretary of Labor.   In this post, he notes that DOL will award $100 million in grants to promote apprenticeship in high growth industries.  He writes "Let's think of apprenticeship as the other 4-year degree-minus the tuition sticker shock and the student loan payments... 21st century apprenticeship, is in fact, essential to a prosperous American future."

Note: The following article originally ran as part of Silicon Valley Leadership Group’s 2015 Game Changers. Read the original post here.

Apprenticeship – training by doing (and getting paid for it) – is a tried-and-true approach to preparing people for work and transferring skills to a new generation.

In the 18th century, to meet the economic needs of the time, young people apprenticed as silversmiths, blacksmiths and cobblers. More recently, apprenticeship gave us the iron workers and welders who built the infrastructure that powered the economic boom of the mid-20th century.

And despite the conventional wisdom, apprenticeship is just as relevant for a more complex 21st century economy, with the potential to make a game-changing impact on workforce development in the years to come.

Some of my most inspiring visits as Labor Secretary have been to apprenticeship facilities. At Philadelphia’s Finishing Trades Institute, inner-city youth can become painters and drywall finishers earning upward of $20 per hour. In San Francisco, a young journeyman told me excitedly that his electrical apprenticeship program had given him his “golden ticket.” (He must be a Willy Wonka fan).

But let’s not pigeonhole apprenticeships. They’re not just for so-called blue collar professions like construction. This learn-while-you-earn model works in information technology, health care, energy and cybersecurity as well. That plumber or HVAC technician you trust –she may have apprenticed, but so too may the woman who uses her hands to write code instead of to fix sinks or inspect air ducts.

BlueCross BlueShield has an apprenticeship program in IT. The Service Employees International Union has one in home care – a high-demand field given our rapidly aging population. I toured a community college in San Antonio where a Labor Department grant is helping apprentices acquire competencies in mechatronics.

New innovations like pre-apprenticeship and competency-based apprenticeship could provide a fast track to many of today’s in-demand IT occupations. Apprenticeships can also provide a foot in the door for women, minorities and veterans who are underrepresented in IT.

Apprenticeships offer an impressive return on investment for everyone with skin in the game. Workers get higher earnings and a springboard into the middle class. Employers build a pipeline of skilled workers to stay on the competitive cutting edge. And for taxpayers, every dollar spent on apprenticeship provides $27 in benefits.

So, the Obama Administration is making apprenticeship a linchpin of its job-driven approach to workforce programs. This fall, we will award $100 million in grants to promote apprenticeship in high-growth industries. President Obama has called on Congress to create a $2 billion training fund, with the goal of doubling the number of apprentices over the next five years. And we’re committed to doing our part within the government, working across federal agencies to take to scale successful apprenticeship programs at the military, the Labor Department and the U.S. Mint.

This is a policy challenge and an outreach challenge. We need to change budget priorities, but also mindsets. So many families and educators believe a bachelor’s degree is the only road to economic security, but apprenticeship offers acareer pathway just as promising. Let’s think of apprenticeship as the other 4-year degree – minus the tuition sticker shock and the student loan payments.

Apprenticeship is a common-sense, time-tested idea in wide practice globally. As long as we’ve needed good workers, we’ve had apprenticeships – why stop now? It has its roots in medieval guilds, but apprenticeship is anything but anachronistic. 21st century apprenticeship is, in fact, essential to a prosperous American future.

Follow Secretary Perez on Twitter, @LaborSec.