The inability to meet the demand for entry-level auto technicians shows no signs of abating and, in fact, has worsened even slightly more, says Greg Settle, director of national initiatives for TechForce Foundation.
In December, TechForce Foundation released a “Transportation Technician Supply & Demand Report, updating its “Transportation Technician Supply” and “Transportation Technician Demand” reports for 2018.
“The shortage has grown over many years and we will not solve the problem overnight, or with short-term independent tactical approaches,” Settle says.
He says this issue requires a long-term, strategic plan that gets all facets of the industry involved.
The inability to fuel the future workforce, he says, comes from two factors. The first is that demand is increasing due to retirements and others leaving the industry, as well as new growth.
The second is that the number of graduates coming out of all postsecondary technical programs has been on a downward trend and that trend continues in 2018.
So, the gap in meeting the demand is increasing, Settle says.
The Technician Supply & Demand Report supplements the previous reports, adjusting prior projections to reflect newly published research from the National Center for Education Statistics and TechForce’s own analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Citing both increasing demand for professional techs and a declining supply of new techs entering the industry, the update concludes that the technician shortage is increasing in severity despite industry efforts to organize around the issue and a slight uptick in new post-secondary degrees and certificates for future diesel technicians.
