Would you want your son–or your daughter–to become an automotive technician? If you had your life to live over, would you consider studying auto mechanics?
Chances are, you’re shaking your head, no. People who work on cars for a living just don’t get any respect. And that’s largely why there aren’t enough technicians to fix today’s vehicles, much less tomorrow’s.
The world of the auto mechanic has been changing rapidly in the last couple of decades. The era of the “shade-tree” mechanic, the guy who could fix anything with few tools, is gone. Auto service work is now a highly skilled profession, requiring intensive study and perseverance.
Today’s technicians have to understand how increasingly complex vehicles work. They must know how to identify problems and what to do about them. They operate sophisticated diagnostic equipment.
“There is definitely a shortage” of qualified technicians, said Patricia Serratore, vice president of the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE). Not nearly enough young people are entering the business. Obtaining new blood for the service trade is difficult enough, Serratore said. More important is the need to draw in young people who can become sufficiently skilled at the job.
For several years, ASE has estimated a shortage of 60,000 technicians. The government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) states that there are about 33,000 openings for qualified auto technicians in a given year.
Ford spokesman Mike Vaughn sees a shortfall of 80,000 technicians, calling the shortage acute.
Pat Lampel, marketing services manger for ASE, says the answer lies between the BLS figure (33,000) and the 60,000 that his association publicized in the 1990s. Whatever the total number, “it all comes down to qualified technicians,” Lampel said. As the technology changes, that will affect the number of new technicians needed.
“The industry has identified this as a real problem,” said Donna M. Wagner, president of the Car Care Council.
Manufacturers and dealerships are feeling the pinch. Industrywide, said Marc Henretta, manager of dealer and customer communications for DaimlerChrysler, the auto trade suffers an 18 to 25 percent turnover ratio. Of every hundred new technicians hired, not much more than 75 are still there at the end of a year. Add the number of older technicians who are retiring, and the magnitude of the problem becomes clear.
“I hate hearing people say, `I’m just a technician,'” Henretta said. “These folks are just valuable.”
Image remains a major obstacle. Technicians still are perceived as grease monkeys, though a visit to most dealer service centers would dispel that notion.
As Ford’s Vaughn pointed out, 80 percent of the systems in a motor vehicle today are controlled by computers. Furthermore, because skilled technicians are in such great demand, the job market is likely to remain strong for years to come. Service work is “not the same old dirty, nasty job it was 30 or 40 years ago,” Vaughn said.
“Our business has become so technical,” said Tom Hawke, a Chicagoland Lincoln-Mercury dealer. It’s not unusual today for technicians to have laptop computers on their desks, in addition to the familiar hand tools.
As for the image, “we think we’re getting over that slightly,” said DaimlerChrysler’s Henretta. For one thing, those who are learning and working in the automotive field “tend to take more pride in what they do” if they have more technical training.
Presenting a professional image is essential, said Wagner of the Car Care Council. Those involved must “change the mindset of the students, the parents, and the teachers.”
A number of programs are in existence to alleviate the shortage. Some are operated by auto manufacturers. Others work in cooperation with automakers and/or auto dealers. For example, Automotive Youth Educational Systems (AYES), a partnership between business and vocational education, is aimed at high school students. The system pairs a student with a working technician to give the student an idea of what happens in an ordinary day’s work, said ASE’s vice president Serratore. The student first shadows the technician, growing into an intern.
Automakers, along with the National Automobile Dealers Association, the state of California, ASE, Snap-On Tools and dealers support the AYES program. Manufacturers donate vehicles, equipment and parts. They also develop a suggested curriculum.
Scholarships are available to AYES technical students. Participating high schools must be ASE-certified. Advisory committees are made up of local dealers.
The Chrysler Dealer Apprentice Program has been operating since 1984 for post-high school students.
More recently, Dodge announced a Motorsports Diversity Program, Henretta said, to “help minorities get into the service technician business.” The program capitalizes on the interest in racing that young people develop, to help draw them into good-paying technician jobs. Students learn “hands-on NASCAR-based racing technology,” which can later be applied in racing or conventional automotive areas.
“We have several programs in our arsenal to recruit, train, and recognize” technicians, said Ford’s Vaughn. The Ford Asset Program, for example, is a two-year curriculum at community colleges. Students alternate academic study with practical work at auto dealerships. A Quick Tech program works with high school students–especially disadvantaged kids.
The Ford-AAA Student Auto Skills Competition holds a national championship in June. Teams of high-school students have to find and repair problems planted in Ford autos. “You train them,” Ford’s Vaughn said. Then “you get them adopted by a Ford or Lincoln-Mercury dealer.” Then, you recognize their efforts with rewards.
Skills USA is a program from the Vocational and Industrial Clubs of America (VICA). Auto technology is just one of the fields. Students also are enrolled to learn about hairstyling, culinary arts, welding and other skills. Competitions are held among the students.
“It’s just huge,” ASE’s Serratore said, with as many as 4,000 students working in a hall. The program also teaches personal development skills: creating resumes, being on time for the job and so forth.
The Car Care Council operates a speakers’ bureau, sending knowledgeable people to schools and business groups to talk about careers in the auto industry and their earning potential.
Median earnings of auto technicians in 1998 was $13.16 per hour, according to the U.S. government’s Occupational Outlook Handbook. For those who worked at dealerships, the median was $15.03; at gas stations, $11.18.
The government says “master technicians,” those who pass demanding test from the Society of Automotive Engineers, can earn as much as $70,000 to $100,000 per year.
Dealer Hawke works with the Chicagoland Youth and Adult Training Center at Kennedy-King College. This program is “trying to find ways to help at-risk youths and young adults in the city,” Hawke said, by providing a worthwhile career path. Following the public launch of the program in October, a lot of Chicago-area young people inquired about the program. Ford is considering expansion of the idea into 25 or 30 of its market areas.
In addition to technical studies, students get “life skills” training, Hawke said. They learn how to create resumes, how to handle finances–basically, how to manage their lives if they start making $40,000 a year or so. “That’s a critical part of what they do.”
Even if the student does not remain a technician, ASE’s Serratore said, training makes that person a better customer.
Serratore, like others in the field, would like to see more female technicians. AYES says 1.2 percent of the 889,000 technicians in the U.S. in 1996 were female, according to the Statistical Abstract of the United States. The Statistical Abstract says that in 1999 there was a total of 837,000 “auto mechanics,” of whom 1.4 percent were female.
A recent story in the Detroit News stated that 2,000 women, or about 2 percent of the total number of technicians, are ASE-certified.
Though service departments are a lot different than they used to be, the image of auto mechanics as a crude, dirty occupation continues to stand in the way of attracting young women.
“We recruit primarily from the high schools,” said D/C’s Henretta. “And they don’t really try to land all that many females in their automotive programs. So, none of the manufacturers have made much progress in hiring minority women.
“We are looking at some image things,” Henretta said.
The Women’s Board of the Car Care Council (CCC) “is trying to make strides toward getting young females to become interested in auto-related careers,” said Susan Frissell, publisher of Women With Wheels. CCC has “the virtual mentor site, where users can look up a profession within the auto industry … and read a bio on one of us. That’s on the CCC site. Also, we are putting together a speaker’s bureau to go into schools and speak to young women.”
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Here’s a rundown of some of the programs available to aspiring automotive technicians:
-Automotive Youth Educational Systems (AYES), a partnership between business and vocational education aimed at high school students:
Who’s eligible: Any student in a school that participates in AYES, who has completed junior year and is at least 16. According to an AYES representative, at least 205 schools participate though DaimlerChrysler puts the number at 230.
How many: More than 2,000 students have been placed in internships since 1996, when the full program began.
Information: Call 888-664-0044 or visit www.ayes.org
– Chrysler Dealer Apprentice Program (CAP) targets post-high school students:
Who’s eligible: CAP is a post-secondary two-year program, so candidates are freshmen and sophomores at 34 partcipating colleges and universities nationwide.
How many: There are 350 students nationwide in CAP program. Since 1984 (when five schools participated); 1,600 students have gone through the program and are working technicians.
Information: Call 800-626-1523 or visit www.cap.daimlerchrysler.com
– DaimlerChrysler’s Motorsports Diversity Program is aimed at minorities and features NASCAR-based racing technology:
Who’s eligible: High-school graduates and seniors in high school.
How many: Nine to 11 stuednts are expected in the new program by mid-summer.
Information: Call Diversity Motorsports Operation/Nascar Truck Series at 810-497-0102 or e-mail dmm34@daimlerchrysler.com.
– Ford Asset Program (Automotive Student Service Education and Training), a two-year curriculum at community colleges in which the student gains practical experience at sponsoring auto dealerships:
Who’s eligible: High-school graduates. It’s a nationwide program in 61 schools, including Triton College.
How many: 500 to 700 graduates per year, nationwide.
Information: Visit www.fordasset.com
– Ford Quick Tech program, a pilot program:
Who’s eligible: High school students in three Chicago area career academies: Curie, Prosser and Farragut
How many: Last year, 108 were enrolled and about 30 graduated. Most went on to college.
Information: Contact Office of Education-to-Careers at 773-553-2460.
– Chicagoland Youth and Adult Automotive Training Program at Kennedy-King college:
Who’s eligible: High school graduates or those who pass GED test.
How many: In its second class, the first group had 15 students; the second, 19.
Information: Call Mr. Duane Roundtree at 313-337-3608.
