Hillary Clinton will call for a tax credit for businesses for every apprentice hired as a way to boost youth employment in a speech Wednesday in South Carolina, according to her presidential campaign.
Businesses would receive a $1,500 credit per apprentice if they meet federal and state standards and outcome measures. Apprentices would need to be registered
The proposal builds on efforts on Capitol Hill by Republicans and Democrats, including Sens. Tim Scott, R-S.C. and Maria Cantwell, D-WA.
Clinton’s proposal is in contrast to some Republicans who back legislation that could result in cuts to training programs, said a Clinton aide familiar with the program but not authorized to speak publicly as a matter of practice. For example, the aide said, the budget supported by Republicans in the House and Senate call for spending cuts that could threaten occupational training and adult education programs.
Clinton will unveil her proposals at a forum at Trident Technical College in North Charleston, where she will discuss the need for youth job training and apprenticeships.
She will urge the country to do more to encourage businesses to expand workers’ skills and create jobs and describe apprenticeships as a proposal that will bring higher wages for employees and fill needed jobs for businesses.
The unemployment rate for 18- to 34-year olds in May was 7.8 percent, outpacing the overall unemployment rate of 5.5 percent. The unemployment rate among African-American young adults was higher, at 14.6 percent.
Registered apprenticeships are associated with an average gain in salaries of $6,595 which stays years after an apprenticeship is completed, according to a 2012 evaluation conducted by Mathematica Policy Research and cited by the Department of Labor.
Clinton’s support for these programs comes from her personal experience and the example set by her mother Dorothy Rodham, the aide said..
After law school, Clinton used a grant to work for South Carolina’s Marian Wright Edelman at the Children’s Defense Fund, which she has said set her course for a lifetime of working for children and families. The grant was given to law students working on civil rights research.
Rodham, who was abandoned by her parents and on her own working by age 14, told Clinton that the woman whose house she cleaned had encouraged her to attend high school – one of the first times she felt motivated.
As a senator, she pushed bills that would have expanded job training. Later, at the Clinton Foundation, she announced a program to address job training, hiring and mentoring.
Following Saturday’s rally in New York, Clinton is visiting the early states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. Her speech Saturday was full of policy proposals, but short on details. She is expected to outline specifics weekly through the summer and fall. It is unclear whether she say how she will pay for her apprenticeship proposal in South Carolina.
Wednesday marks Clinton’s second trip to South Carolina. Before the college event Wednesday, she will meet with community leaders in Orangeburg to discuss ways to help rural South Carolinians.