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The HVACR industry is one of the main supports of our culture and is experiencing a critical shortage of qualified technicians. The current energy situation will cause the lack of qualified technicians to become even more critical. Currently, by industry estimates, there are 60,000 unfilled positions, ranging from entry-level to senior technicians. The US Dept of Labor has projected the shortage will increase at a rate of 24% over the next 5 years.
Job prospects for highly skilled heating and air-conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers are expected to be very good, particularly for those with technical school or formal apprenticeship training to install, remodel, and service new or existing systems. In additions to job openings created by employment growth, thousands of openings will result from the need to replace workers who transfer to other occupations or leave the labor force.
Career fields include equipment installer, service technician, apartment maintenance technician, sales representative, refrigeration mechanic, field service representative, commercial maintenance and other related fields. Another added bonus to this trade is that 1 out of every 7 technicians are self-employed.
Consider this, there are entire areas of our country that only exist due to air conditioning, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Southern Florida, San Antonio, Houston, and other extreme high temperature locations began to thrive after air conditioning was introduced to our society. Fresh produce, dairy products, and other perishables would not make it to their destination without refrigeration. Couple this with the heating industry and you can see how big the HVACR trade really is. |
