How to register an apprenticeship program in South Dakota
How does a South Dakota employer register a registered apprenticeship program?
- Name the occupation and the trade's license path
- Work through the five Start Today SD steps with a consultant
- Draft the standards: work processes, related instruction, wages
- Set the ratio of apprentices to journeyworkers
- Build the standards package in the Standards Builder
- Submit the package for U.S. Department of Labor approval
- Register the apprentices themselves, per trade
- Track hours and pay raises through the term
What registering actually registers
Registration approves a training program, not a person. Your program joins the U.S. Department of Labor's Registered Apprenticeship system, and each apprentice then enters it under an agreement.
Start Today SD is South Dakota's doorway. The state's Department of Labor and Regulation describes its Start Today SD Apprenticeship Program as part of the U.S. Department of Labor's Registered Apprenticeship system, which has trained workers since 1937.
Registration matters for the credential. Start Today SD describes a registered program as formally recognized and validated by the U.S. Department of Labor or a state apprenticeship agency, with apprentices earning a nationally recognized credential on completion.
If you are weighing sponsorship against the state license routes instead, read the cost breakdown first. Sponsorship and licensing are not the same purchase.
since 1937South Dakota's Start Today SD Apprenticeship Program is part of the U.S. Department of Labor's Registered Apprenticeship system, which has trained workers since 1937. — South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-29
A registered apprenticeship is formally recognized and validated by the U.S. Department of Labor or a state apprenticeship agency, and completion earns a nationally recognized credential. — Start Today SD, retrieved 2026-09-29
Who may sponsor a program in South Dakota
Almost any employer. The state's labor department lists the operators plainly: employers in the public and private sectors, employer associations, and joint labor and management sponsors.
Program size is not a gate either. Registered programs range from one apprentice to hundreds. A two-van electrical shop can sponsor a program with a single apprentice.
The model fits either learning measure. The Department of Labor and Regulation states that registered programs can be competency based or time based. Time-based programs count hours, which is how the state electrical and plumbing licenses already measure progress.
Your apprentice will still need the state credential for their trade. The electrician route and the plumber route show what the state itself requires.
Employers in both the public and private sectors, employer associations, and joint labor and management sponsors operate Registered Apprenticeship programs. — South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-29
1 to hundredsRegistered Apprenticeship programs range in size from one apprentice to hundreds. — South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-29
Registered Apprenticeship programs can be competency based or time based. — South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-29
The five steps a South Dakota sponsor walks
Start Today SD lays the route out as five steps: explore, design, partner, build, launch. Each has a deliverable, and the consultant assigned to you carries them.
Exploration names the occupation. Design sets the program shape and the sponsor model. Partnership pulls in an instruction provider, which matters because a registered program needs related technical instruction, not just job hours.
The build step is where most sponsors slow down. Start Today SD describes it as identifying your wage scale, clarifying work processes, and developing a related training curriculum, plus a recruitment and selection plan.
Launch is the submission. In Start Today SD's words, you complete the apprenticeship standards package and submit it for approval from the U.S. Department of Labor.
5 stepsStart Today SD describes becoming a registered apprenticeship sponsor as a five-step process: explore, design, partner, build, and launch. — Start Today SD, retrieved 2026-09-29
In the build step a sponsor identifies the wage scale, clarifies work processes, and develops a related training curriculum and recruitment plan. — Start Today SD, retrieved 2026-09-29
In the launch step the sponsor completes the apprenticeship standards package and submits it for approval from the U.S. Department of Labor. — Start Today SD, retrieved 2026-09-29
What must be inside the standards
Federal rule fixes the contents. Program standards under 29 CFR 29.5 must include a work process schedule: an outline of the work processes in which the apprentice receives supervised training, with the approximate time spent in each major process.
Related instruction is a required component too. The rule recommends a minimum of 144 hours of organized, related instruction for each year of apprenticeship.
The wage schedule must rise. The standards need a progressively increasing schedule of wages consistent with the skill acquired. The pay page covers what that floor means in South Dakota dollars.
Standards also state a ratio. Federal rule requires a numeric ratio of apprentices to journeyworkers, consistent with proper supervision, training, safety, and continuity of employment, specific as to job site, workforce, department or plant.
| Component | What it sets |
|---|---|
| Work process schedule | Each major work process and the time spent in it |
| Related instruction | The technical classroom component, about 144 hours per year |
| Wage schedule | A pay scale that rises as skill is acquired |
| Apprentice ratio | Apprentices per journeyworker, by job site or department |
| Probationary period | A trial term, capped by federal rule |
Program standards must include a work process schedule outlining the supervised work processes and the approximate time spent in each major process. — 29 CFR 29.5, Cornell LII, retrieved 2026-09-29
144 hours per yearFederal rule recommends a minimum of 144 hours of organized, related instruction for each year of apprenticeship. — 29 CFR 29.5, Cornell LII, retrieved 2026-09-29
Program standards must include a progressively increasing schedule of wages consistent with the skill acquired. — 29 CFR 29.5, Cornell LII, retrieved 2026-09-29
Program standards must include a numeric ratio of apprentices to journeyworkers, specific as to job site, workforce, department or plant. — 29 CFR 29.5, Cornell LII, retrieved 2026-09-29
Two rules that bind from day one
The trial period is capped. Federal rule allows a probationary period that cannot exceed 25 percent of the length of the program, or one year, whichever is shorter. A four-year electrical program tops out at one year of probation, not two.
Equal opportunity applies to the program as a whole. Under 29 CFR 30.4, an apprenticeship program's affirmative action obligations exist to ensure equal opportunity and prevent discrimination, and commitments made under them may not be used to discriminate against any qualified applicant or apprentice.
Neither rule costs much to satisfy at drafting time. Both cost a great deal to retrofit after a complaint. Put both in the standards package rather than in a policy binder nobody reads.
25% or 1 yearA probationary period in a registered apprenticeship program cannot exceed 25 percent of the program length, or one year, whichever is shorter. — 29 CFR 29.5, Cornell LII, retrieved 2026-09-29
Under 29 CFR 30.4, affirmative action commitments in apprenticeship must not be used to discriminate against any qualified applicant or apprentice. — 29 CFR 30.4, Cornell LII, retrieved 2026-09-29
Assembling and submitting the package
The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Apprenticeship provides a registration tool called the Standards Builder. Its own employer page describes the tool as gathering all the information needed to generate the registration package for submission.
Before opening it, answer the department's three readiness questions. Have you identified a specific occupation? Have you developed a training plan? Have you identified a training provider for the classroom component? Three yeses mean you are ready to register, in the department's words.
The support costs nothing. Start Today SD presents itself as a no-cost support service for building and managing registered apprenticeship programs, funded by a U.S. Department of Labor grant.
Once approved, the program exists and the real work begins. Register the apprentices in their trade credentials, if the trade has them, and set up the hour records. The hour-logging guide and the hiring guide take those in order.
The U.S. Department of Labor's Standards Builder gathers the information needed to generate the registration package for submission. — U.S. Department of Labor, Apprenticeship.gov, retrieved 2026-09-29
An employer is ready to register once it has identified an occupation, developed a training plan, and identified a training provider for the classroom component. — U.S. Department of Labor, Apprenticeship.gov, retrieved 2026-09-29
Start Today SD presents itself as a no-cost support service for building and managing registered apprenticeship programs. — Start Today SD, retrieved 2026-09-29
Questions
Does registering a program replace the state trade license?
No. A registered apprenticeship is a federal training model. If your trade licenses apprentices, like electrical or plumbing in South Dakota, each apprentice registers separately with the state commission. The registered program supplies training structure, not the credential.
How long does approval take?
Start Today SD does not publish a fixed review time. The schedule depends on how complete the standards package is when submitted, which is the argument for walking the build step with the state's consultant rather than drafting alone.
Can a one-person shop register a program?
Yes. The South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation states that registered programs range in size from one apprentice to hundreds, and that private and public sector employers alike can operate them.
Is the consultant free, or fee-based after setup?
Start Today SD describes itself as a no-cost support service, created under a U.S. Department of Labor grant, so there is no published fee for the consultant who walks the five steps with you.
What happens after the program is approved?
You recruit under the selection plan, sign each apprentice agreement, and begin the work process schedule. Completion rates are later evaluated against national averages, and programs falling below them are offered technical assistance.