With thousands of technician positions needing to be filled, there is an urgent need for the automotive aftermarket to find ways to tackle the problem.
Enter AIA Canada’s Labour Market Report, released late last year. The report found that the labour gap is expected to worsen in the coming years, exacerbated by the growing trend towards vehicle electrification.
Alana Baker, vice president of government relations and research at AIA Canada, joined Auto Service World Conversations to speak about the study, what they found, what the challenges are, how the industry can approach the issues and more.
She pointed to the high staff turnover shops in the mechanical and collision repair space are facing — many of whom are going to other trades and taking their transferrable skills elsewhere.
“It also indicated that 46 per cent of those technicians left for higher paying jobs or for other reasons, including poor public perception of the industry, or a lack of career development opportunities, and even improved working conditions elsewhere,” Baker said of the report’s findings.
Furthermore, she pointed out, auto dealers are a more appealing destination than the auto care sector.
They discussed challenges like advancing vehicle technology and electric vehicles requiring new technical skills from technicians. Low wages in the auto care sector compared to other trades were also an issue. Baker suggested adjusting employment programs to attract younger workers by offering better work-life balance, such as flexible hours.
Baker identified collaboration between industry, government and training institutions to address challenges.
Baker dives into where the industry goes from here, where large gaps exist and factors for improvement.
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