New Report Explores Women’s Representation and Retention in WA’s Skilled Trades Apprenticeships
September 15, 2026
OLYMPIA – Women remain critically underrepresented in Washington State’s registered apprenticeship system, a disparity that is particularly pronounced in construction trades.
A new report from the Washington State Women’s Commission (WSWC) Economic Well-Being Committee, Women in Washington’s Skilled Trades: Representation and Retention in the Apprenticeship Pipeline, analyzes nearly 40,000 apprenticeship records from the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) from 2022–2025.
Women are participating in apprenticeship
The data challenges the idea that women simply are not interested in apprenticeship.
Women make up 33.9% of non-construction apprentices and are the majority of participants in several large care- and service-oriented programs. Women are participating in apprenticeship and pursuing work-based pathways into careers—but they are not accessing construction trades at the same rate.
Construction has a significant gender gap
Women make up just 7.7% of construction apprentices. In some trades, women are nearly absent.
This matters because construction trades account for the majority of Washington’s registered apprenticeships, and apprentices are required on certain public works projects, the majority of which are in construction and related trades. Improving women’s access to these pathways would result in more euitable economic opportunity and a more diverse workfroce fopr statepublic works projects.
What happens after women enter apprenticeship?
The report also finds differences in apprenticeship outcomes.
In several construction trades where women are nearly absent, women experience higher cancellation rates and lower completion rates than men.
The pattern changes in trades where women have higher representation. There, gender gaps in cancellation and completion rates tend to narrow. In some trades, women cancel at lower rates or complete their programs at higher rates than men.
The analysis does not show that representation causes these differences. But it does raise an important question: What conditions do women encounter when they enter trades where they are deeply underrepresented?
Recruitment is only part of the solution
These findings suggest that increasing women’s participation in construction requires more than recruitment. Washington also needs to understand what helps women stay, complete their apprenticeships, and build lasting careers in the trades.
The report includes recommendations for state agencies, registered apprenticeship programs, and Joint Apprenticeship Training Committees (JATCs) to better assess and address low representation of women in construction apprenticeships and workplace conditions that may contribute to low retention.
Read the full report: Women in the Skilled Trades: Representation and Retention in the Apprenticeship Pipeline