The TechForce Foundation recently released its “Technician Supply & Demand Report”, which shows that the technician shortage may be turning a corner going into 2024, as the report reflects the first increase in all technical school completions in 10 years.
The report covers projections for the next five years in both the demand for new entrant technicians (needed to keep up with growth in new positions and replacement of retiring techs) and the supply of graduates being produced by postsecondary tech schools and community colleges nationwide. The automotive, collision and diesel industries have suffered from a massive gap in supply and demand, leading to a significant technician workforce shortage that has plagued the industry for decades, the foundation said.
TechForce’s 2023 Technician Supply & Demand Report shows that the technician workforce grew by 4.3% from 2021 to 2022, outpacing the overall US Labor Force’s growth (4%) for the first time. The industry needs 795,000 new automotive, diesel, collision repair, aviation and avionics technicians to meet demand over the next five years, 2023-2027. Even with the uptick in completions of tech school and community college programs, the gap continues to persist, the foundation said.
“Through this year’s data analysis, we expect nearly 800,000 new technicians to be needed over the next five years,” said Greg Settle, author of the report and director emeritus of national initiatives at TechForce Foundation. “This number is down from last year’s projection of one million new hires deemed necessary to fill the gap. While a number of factors influence overall demand, the increase in technical school graduates and the growth of the total number of technicians employed from 2021 to 2022 certainly account for a good part of the decrease.”
The report also provides projections for the impact of EVs on workforce needs, and recently added an analysis of aviation data over previous years.
