Broadly speaking, vocational education prepares students for specific trades or occupations through on-the-job training. It can include dual enrollment coursework at a community college, work-based learning through job shadowing and internship programs, or CTE-integrated curricula at a high school. Students ideally begin vocational education before graduating high school but can also enroll outside of school in programs such as registered apprenticeships.
There is strong evidence that vocational education improves outcomes for students, including employment and higher earnings upon graduation. Nearly half of vocational education students are also likely to earn a bachelor’s degree, making vocational education a key stepping stone to both college and careers.
Here are six things to know about vocational education.
Vocational education has been on the rise amid growing interest
Students are increasingly seeing the value of career-connected learning and how these programs can give them a leg up in the labor market, especially for those who do not pursue a four-year degree. According to a nationwide education survey, 69 percent of respondents believe having on-the-job experience is very valuable, while 76 percent believe increasing job skills and workforce training opportunities in high school—including apprenticeships and internship opportunities—should be a policy priority to improve public schools.
U.S. Department of Education data show a 10 percent increase in enrollment for K-12 career and technical education programs for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years, while public two-year colleges with high vocational program focus saw a 13.6 percent increase in 2024 and 2025. Meanwhile, enrollment in trade schools is only projected to grow.
Vocational education leads to better jobs and higher earnings
Vocational education has demonstrated economic returns for workers—particularly, increased employability immediately after high school. Due to limited rigorous research on CTE programs and their outcomes, few studies have examined the effects of CTE participation on career earnings. However, select state trends suggest that vocational education can have a significant impact on earnings. In Florida, workers with vocational training earn at least 30 percent more than a high school graduate without vocational training. Recognizing the importance of preparing students for the workforce, 21 governors have prioritized education and workforce alignment in their 2026 state of the state addresses. For example, Gov. Jared Polis (D) of Colorado has emphasized the importance of connecting the skills students acquire in school to jobs in the real world. And Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) has called for better alignment of community college curricula to workforce needs.
Vocational education must begin well before students enter postsecondary school; dual and concurrent enrollment programs in high school can help put students on the path toward their career goals early on. New Hampshire is one example where investments in these programs are yielding significant savings—$14 million total—in postsecondary costs and a 62 percent increase in transferable credits.
Another proven vocational education model to increase access to better jobs and higher earnings for individuals with an associate degree or lower is registered apprenticeships. Registered apprenticeships provide an “earn and learn” opportunity in which individuals obtain workforce skills and credentials while being compensated, therefore avoiding debt—though students can pay for vocational postsecondary programs using federal student aid. A 2023 analysis found that apprentices saw a 49 percent increase in earnings from one year before their apprenticeship to one year after, with the highest rates of increase in high-demand fields such as health care and technology. State leaders, including Maryland’s governor, are driving increased investments in registered apprenticeships given its overall success: Gov. Wes Moore (D) has made it a goal to significantly increase the number of high school students graduating as registered apprentices each year by the end of his second term.
Vocational education is popular around the world
Vocational education is a key pathway to the workforce in many other countries, but what form it takes often depends on the country’s education and workforce systems, major industries, and other factors. From Germany’s dual model to Singapore’s focus on funding skills development, other countries are investing in their workforces amid challenges with demographics and shortages of workers in key sectors of the economy.
Some countries, such as Germany and Switzerland, invest heavily in career-connected learning for students and young adults via dual enrollment and youth apprenticeships. Other countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, make apprenticeships a key feature of their overall workforce strategies. In order to expand access and remove financial barriers, France and Singapore are providing paid accounts for workers to directly fund their training; Singapore has seen growing take-up in their program.
Vocational education can help prepare young people for good jobs in the age of AI
Americans are feeling anxious about how artificial intelligence (AI) might affect their jobs and the economic opportunities available to them and their children. Indeed, 71 percent of respondents to a Reuters/Ipsos poll fear AI will cause permanent job loss.
It’s no surprise, then, that many students have begun evaluating their postsecondary options through the lens of AI exposure and which jobs might be AI-proof. This could explain why overall enrollment in trades majors at community colleges has gone up for engineering, mechanics, and health care, while computer science enrollment has fallen. Some of these industries are projected to grow and have among the highest-paying trade jobs.
Vocational education has seen proposed cuts since President Trump assumed office
Despite all of these positive trends and growing interest, the Trump administration’s policies have only undermined vocational education opportunities for students and workers. Since his second term, the president has rolled back or outright eliminated investments in vocational education and workforce programs, including approximately $800 million for community college workforce programs.
The administration’s fiscal year 2026 budget proposal consolidated 11 U.S. Department of Labor workforce programs with distinct goals and population needs into one funding stream called “Make America Skilled Again.” These programs sought to strengthen community colleges that prepare so many Americans for good-paying jobs while providing access to job training for rural and Native American communities and supporting employment for farmworkers. The president’s recent FY 2027 proposed budget is no different from the last, eliminating essential programs that support vocational education—such as Job Corps (previously funded at $1.6 billion), which provides free work-based training and industry-recognized credentials for youth and young adults. Recent workforce legislation from Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives would also move adult education to the Department of Labor, a move to further dismantle the Department of Education that would make these programs less effective for the workers they serve.
Additionally, as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the Department of Education, a May 2025 interagency agreement (IAA) established a partnership between the Department of Education’s Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE) and the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration to administer career, technical, and adult education grants and Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Title II programs through the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act. The IAA has led to delays and disruption for CTE funding and created more bureaucracy, not less, for the schools and students who depend on these programs.
Policymakers have multiple tools to support vocational education
Federal and state policymakers have options to invest in vocational education in a way that builds talent.
At the federal level, the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) has been due for reauthorization, and funding has been eroded by inflation. Additionally, efforts to modernize the National Apprenticeship Act have similarly stalled in Congress, limiting the ability to scale apprenticeships to meet growing interest and demand. Lastly, federal policymakers could make further investments in community and technical colleges, our nation’s largest training providers, through programs such as the Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants and Strengthening Institutions Program.
Beyond modernizing existing federal programs that support program implementation at the state and local level, federal lawmakers must provide funding and technical assistance for state and local governments to improve and sustain vocational education efforts. This support would help states to align their K-12 curricula and offerings with business industry needs. At a time when technology, including artificial intelligence, is rapidly changing the workforce, state education systems require federal support to modernize their vocational education curricula to ensure relevant skills and competencies that students need to access in-demand careers.
Improving data collection and utilization to improve and sustain vocational education programs must also be a priority for legislators. One federal program that is designed to support this effort is the Workforce Data Quality Initiative (WDQI), which integrates education and workforce data that are maintained over time. Federal legislators can increase appropriations for the WDQI to ensure more comprehensive and timely data collection and usage to improve programs. State leaders can require statewide data-sharing agreements across agencies to streamline the data collection process, promote coordination and data-driven decision-making across agencies, and make it easier to track outcomes. Importantly, the federal government can play a crucial role in funding rigorous research, including randomized control trial studies that track longitudinal data of vocational education programs to measure their overall efficacy and outcomes. These combined efforts will improve agencies’ use of vocational education data to scale successful programs or interventions and identify blind spots that need to be addressed through policy or program design and implementation.
While state and local governments have a number of ways to grow vocational education on the ground, addressing the nationwide shortage of educators would make a difference in alleviating some of the barriers to standing up and sustaining these programs. Investing in recruitment and offering more competitive wages would go a long way. States can also better align their education and workforce systems through the WIOA and Perkins V through integrated planning and coordination among relevant stakeholders and functions.
Finally, state and local leaders can invest in vocational education by making it a budget priority and creating new sources of funding to expand these opportunities for more students and workers. In their State of the State addresses, about a third of governors mentioned workforce development as an area of focus. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) cited a 50 percent increase in vocational education and CTE during his time in office. And in his address, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker proposed a new Vocational Training Grant Program aimed at providing school districts and regional vocational centers with “support to build and expand specialized workforce programs.”
Conclusion
Vocational education, a popular pathway for educating and training young people to be ready for careers, is seeing growing interest as more students navigate the labor market amid concerns about AI. This progress could be hampered by proposed cuts from the Trump administration, including the dismantling of the Department of Education. However, policymakers have options for how to support these opportunities and scale them for more Americans in a way that promotes economic mobility.