Author: Jon Marcus

Matthew Atha does steel work at Ironworkers Local 29 during an apprenticeship in Dayton, Ohio. Megan Jelinger/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Megan Jelinger/AFP via Getty Images Joey Cook was 17 and a junior in high school when he heard about a way to learn a profession while getting paid: by landing an apprenticeship, a path into the workforce that everyone was suddenly talking about as an alternative to college. “I didn’t want to go get an associate degree,” he says. “I didn’t want to get a bachelor’s degree.” Cook wanted a certification in heating, ventilation and air-conditioning,…