Pub. 1 2021 Issue 1

39 • Americans owe more than $1.4 trillion in student loan debt • The average student loan is $38,000 • The average repayment time is 21 years • Forty percent of students in four- year college programs drop out • One in 4 college graduates are unemployed or underemployed Consider this: Significantly, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the industry will need approximately 46,000 more auto techs by 2026. Why aren’t more people interested in an automotive ca- reer? Some of the shortage has undoubtedly been caused by the social pressure to go to college instead, even though that pressure results in truly staggering amounts of toxic debt and a delayed entry into the workforce. But that doesn’t account for all of it. Dealerships themselves could do a great deal to make their companies more attractive. Adam Robinson, CEO of a company named Hireology, which is located in Chicago, lists three key factors that have caused the tech shortage: an unclear career path, variable pay plans, and working hours that are not great. Technicians also often spend a large amount of money ($5,000 to $50,000) on their own tools. Any dealership that addresses these problems upfront will have a competitive advantage. That is something to keep in mind, considering the fact that each technician in a shop creates $1,000 per work day in gross revenue. An Automotive News survey, conducted in 2016, found that dealers think they could increase revenue in fixed ops by 17 percent if they had as many techs as they wanted. In other words, young people who are interested in be - coming mechanics in the automotive industry right now have a very bright future.