President Donald Trump has rescinded a controversial Biden administration executive order that attempted to expand the use of government-registered apprentices through federal contracts and grant programs.

“President Trump’s elimination of Biden’s problematic EO is good news for taxpayers, the construction industry and the principles of free enterprise,” said Associated Builders and Contractors Vice President of Regulatory, Labor and State Affairs Ben Brubeck. “The Biden policy would have increased costs on federal and federally assisted taxpayer-funded construction projects by reducing competition from some of the best contractors that do not participate in the voluntary government-registered apprenticeship system for a variety of valid reasons.”

President Trump’s March 14 executive order revoked 19 Biden administration EOs and actions, including Biden’s Executive Order 14119, Scaling and Expanding the Use of Registered Apprenticeships in Industries and the Federal Government and Promoting Labor-Management Forums, signed March 6, 2024.

In a March 6, 2024, statement on the Biden EO, ABC expressed concerns that any new apprenticeship mandates or incentives on federal contracts and grants would also strain America’s underperforming government-registered apprenticeship system.

“As was the case when ABC evaluated the Biden apprenticeship EO last year, the government data is clear: construction’s government-registered apprenticeship system, which had an enrollment of 290,000 apprentice participants and graduated less than 40,000 apprentices in FY 2024, is not keeping up with construction industry demand for skilled craft professionals,” said Brubeck.

According to a Jan. 24 ABC analysis, the construction industry will need to attract an estimated 439,000 net new workers in 2025 to meet anticipated demand for construction services.

“In addition, the Biden apprenticeship EO was a product of his White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment and disproportionately benefited unionized contractors and construction trade union members as part of the Biden administration’s campaign to bolster unions,” said Brubeck. “About 69% of all construction industry GRAP participants are in union programs, so it was another anti-competitive tactic––in addition to illegal government-mandated project labor agreement schemes–– that the Biden administration implemented to steer taxpayer-funded construction contracts primarily to unionized contractors and union labor.”

“ABC appreciates President Trump’s recognition that a record-high 89.7% of the construction industry’s workforce does not belong to a union and that America benefits when all construction workers are welcome to compete on a level playing field to rebuild their communities,” said Brubeck.

ABC supports GRAPs and offers more than 450 such education programs through ABC chapters across the country as part of its all-of-the-above approach to meet the workforce needs of the construction industry.

However, the flawed government-registered apprenticeship system is in need of many improvements, as outlined in ABC’s 2024 comments on a widely opposed Biden proposed rule overhauling the U.S. Department of Labor’s regulations on apprenticeships. On Dec. 2, 2024, ABC celebrated the Biden administration’s decision to withdraw its unpopular proposed rule that would have discouraged employer participation in the GRAP system by adding more costly bureaucracy and paperwork requirements and eliminated flexible, competency-based GRAPs that benefit apprentices and employers.

ABC will continue to provide members, construction industry and workforce development stakeholders with insights on apprenticeship and workforce development policies before the Trump administration and Congress.

Learn more at abc.org/apprenticeship.