DOL pushes apprenticeships as a path for Big Lots workers to advance

The Labor Department is pushing registered apprenticeships as a way to turn hourly retail jobs into longer careers, and that message lands hard for Big Lots workers still navigating a company reset that wiped out most of the chain.

In a late-April forum preview, the department said it would cover self-audits, veterans’ employment rights, child labor laws, prevailing wage issues and registered apprenticeships. Then, on May 13, the U.S. Departments of Education and Labor said 21 states had submitted combined Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act state plans, up from 9 in 2024. The labor department also launched an AI in Registered Apprenticeship Innovation Portal on April 29. Taken together, those moves show a federal system trying to make training more coordinated, more accessible and more closely tied to what employers say they need.

For Big Lots employees, that matters because retail work rarely stays at one task for long. A cashier or stock associate can already see how the job branches into merchandising, operations, human resources, inventory control, loss prevention or distribution support. The challenge is whether a company gives workers a real ladder instead of a dead end. Big Lots filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September 2024 after slowing demand for furniture and décor, high interest rates and a sluggish housing market hit the chain. Variety Wholesalers acquired 219 Big Lots locations out of bankruptcy and began reopening stores on April 10, 2025. As of May 14, 2026, the Big Lots store locator still showed 219 locations.

That is where apprenticeships become more than a policy term. The Department of Labor says registered apprenticeship combines paid work experience with a mentor, classroom instruction, progressive wage increases and a portable, nationally recognized credential. Apprenticeship.gov also lists a retail-specific occupation, Manager, Retail Store / First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers, which gives workers a concrete step beyond the sales floor. For a Big Lots employee, that could mean moving from hourly frontline work into assistant management, inventory leadership or store operations without leaving the paycheck behind.

Retail has already used this model. CVS Health said its apprenticeship effort started in 2005 with retail pharmacy technicians and added a retail manager apprenticeship in 2008 after shortages of experienced workers. If Big Lots wants its own training plan to feel credible, it would need the same ingredients: paid time, clear milestones, wage growth and a credential workers can carry to the next job. In a chain still rebuilding after bankruptcy, that kind of structure could be the difference between a stopgap job and a lasting career.