Apprenticeships everywhere get underpaid. In Germany, the idealist model for apprenticeships, I remember reading a few years ago that the pay was 2-3EUR/hour...how does that compare with the US minimum wage? I believe they brought in a minimum wage law to deal with abuses but wages in the US are pretty high (yes, even after healthcare...the US has a public health care system that is as large as most in Europe, double places like the UK).