‘A VERY COMPLEX OCCUPATION’: AUTO SHOPS STRUGGLE TO HIRE
Last July, in Frisco, Texas, Gerald Sartin realized the problem wasn’t limited to Greenwood.
Sartin, the director of Piedmont Tech’s automotive technology program, had gone to an annual conference organized by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence.
Greenwood’s auto shop owners are having a hard time finding qualified technicians. At the conference, some statistics were floated that brought home the magnitude of the problem.
The average technician is 50 years old, Sartin heard. A mere 3 percent of the nation’s technicians are between the ages of 18 and 24.
“Finding a qualified candidate, this has
