How many apprentices are in California, by quarter

Active apprentices and new registrations, by quarter

Each row is the end of a quarter and links to the DAS report that gives it. Newest first. The columns are labeled as DAS labels them: this Council and California total. Under each California total is its change from the previous quarter in the table, which is WellStanding's subtraction of the two printed numbers.

Compared with June 30, 2025, the California total is 1,297 fewer (91,318 then, 90,021 now) and the Council's totals are 575 more (69,870 then, 70,445 now). Those two differences are WellStanding's subtraction of DAS's printed numbers.

What the two numbers are

• This Council. DAS's reports are addressed to the California Apprenticeship Council and head one set of figures "CAC totals". The Council issues rules and regulations setting standards for apprentice agreements in the building and construction trades and for firefighter occupations, and it meets quarterly (Labor Code 3071(a)).
• California total. The second set of figures, headed "California totals". Only the Chief's report of October 26, 2023 (quarter ended September 30, 2023) has a table with CAC and IACA columns and a Grand Total (PDF page 7, Asian - Pacific Islander Background Summary), and it is the only table in that report with an IACA column. Its Filipino row reads 736 under CAC and 406 under IACA, 1,142 in all. The Filipino count is 736 on that report's CAC totals page and 1,142 on its California totals page, so in that row CAC plus IACA equals the California totals page's count. IACA is the Interagency Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship in Labor Code 3073; that report's text spells it out as the Interagency Advisory Committee for Apprenticeship. The summary line and the CAC totals and California totals pages of the reports in the table do not state what makes up the difference between the two totals. The later reports print the same background summary with Total and CAC columns.
• Active apprentices are as of the last day of the quarter. New registrations and reinstatements are for the quarter, not a running total.
• Public works. Labor Code 1777.5(a)(2) defines an apprenticeship program, for the prevailing wage chapter, as a program under the jurisdiction of the California Apprenticeship Council. The summary line and the two statistical pages do not say which of the two sets of figures matches that definition, and they do not define the label "CAC totals". The only clue is in the Chief's report of October 26, 2023 (quarter ended September 30, 2023), whose table has separate CAC and IACA columns, which fits the California total being CAC programs plus IACA programs. By statute the Council's standards cover the building and construction trades and firefighter occupations (Labor Code 3071(a)), and the Chief issues standards for apprentice agreements in all other industries in consultation with the Interagency Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship (Labor Code 3073(b)). On that basis WellStanding reads the Council's totals as the closer match to the statute's definition. The clue fits that reading but does not prove it, and it is our reading, not DAS's. Neither figure is limited to apprentices on public works jobs.

What the table shows

• The Council's active apprentices ran from 68,858 (March 31, 2026) to 72,150 (September 30, 2024).
• The California total ran from 88,662 (March 31, 2026) to 94,126 (September 30, 2024).
• New registrations and reinstatements in the Council's totals ran from 4,061 (December 31, 2025) to 8,418 (September 30, 2024). In the California total they ran from 5,725 (December 31, 2025) to 13,604 (March 31, 2024). DAS prints 13,604 for the California total in the quarter ended March 31, 2024, against 5,437 for the Council; we copy it as printed and do not vouch for it.

What it means on a public works job

Counts like these show how many apprentices DAS reports as active. They do not show whether an apprentice is available in your craft or county on the day you need one. If you employ workers in an apprenticeable craft on a public works contract, the apprentice duties are in the Labor Code 1777.5 guide. DIR lists the DAS 140 form (Public Works Contract Award Information) and the DAS 142 form (Request for Dispatch of an Apprentice) on its Reports and Forms page; they are covered in the DAS 140 and DAS 142 guide, and the hours math is in the apprentice ratio calculator. Whether you have to hire apprentices at all is answered in this guide.

How this table is built

• Source. The Chief's report that DAS gives the Council at each quarterly meeting, listed on DIR's California Apprenticeship Council meeting page and the yearly meeting pages it links (DAS Meetings 2023, DAS Meetings 2024 and DAS Meetings 2025). We read the report for each quarter on October 23, 2026.
• Which quarter. The quarter is the one named on the report's two Chief's Statistical Report pages. A quarter is in the table only when the report's summary line and those pages print the same four numbers (two are printed with a stray space, "70, 975" and "90 021", which we read as 70,975 and 90,021).
• Copied, not adjusted. DAS prints 13,604 new registrations and reinstatements for the California total in the quarter ended March 31, 2024, more than any other quarter in the table, in both the summary line and the statistical page. We copy it as printed and do not vouch for it.
• Range. The last 12 quarters, from September 30, 2023. This is a dated copy and gains a quarter when we copy DAS's next report.

Download the table: california-apprenticeship-numbers.csv. Cite as: WellStanding, California active apprentices by quarter, DAS data as of June 30, 2026, read on October 23, 2026 from DAS Chief's reports to the California Apprenticeship Council, https://wellstanding.com/data/california-apprenticeship-numbers/.

Questions