James Lett, technical skilled at Autodata, asks how the business can encourage extra folks to enter the sector.

As Nationwide Apprenticeship Week comes round once more, we recognise that the UK’s commerce business remains to be dealing with a labour scarcity difficulty. That is very true within the automotive sector, the place it’s predicted we’ll expertise a shortfall of 160,000 staff by 2031 because of an ageing inhabitants, a discount in migration and many individuals leaving the career all collectively.

This scarcity of formidable folks doing onerous work with their arms begs the query: How can we encourage extra folks to enter the sector? And preserve them there?

That is very true for the youthful era. We ought to be inspiring them to discover alternatives to tackle vocational work, altering the present narrative {that a} profitable profession solely comes from attending college and dealing at a desk.

Encouraging apprenticeship schemes

As we all know, jobs throughout the expert trades play a significant position in sustaining a well-functioning society, and the apprenticeship schemes into them slim socioeconomic disparities and gasoline social mobility.

There is a slight false impression that apprenticeship schemes are low paying. Nevertheless, a latest research revealed that the typical wage for an apprentice technician’s wage stands at upwards of £26,000 per 12 months, with the potential to earn over £100,000 as soon as accomplished. That shouldn’t be sniffed at.

The improbable information is that efforts to draw apprentices to the automotive business have intensified, resulting in a big improve in job postings. Promoting for apprentices has surged since 2020, with job postings for all automotive occupations reaching report highs in January 2023, based on the IMI.

Furthermore, The Unbiased Storage Affiliation (IGA) has urged Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to introduce new funding for apprenticeships in his Spring Finances, as numbers have plummeted for the reason that introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy in 2017, leading to a 39% lower in new Degree 2 & 3 Mild Automobile apprenticeship registrations.

Sure, college levels act as a pathway to many careers. However, they aren’t the one possibility. It is important, particularly for younger folks, to think about all their choices earlier than figuring out their future profession paths, and the business must be encouraging that.

A brand new sort of automotive technician job

With growing demand for EV repairs and duties involving software program updates and automobile upgrades, the way in which we strategy work within the automotive subject is evolving. To protect the way forward for the business, we have to recognise that these developments could make this job extra engaging for tech-savvy folks wanting a job that doesn’t contain a desk.

Being an automotive technician is not solely about tightening bolts (though this may by no means cease being vital!). Automation and robotics are enhancing effectivity, security, and precision within the business. These transformations want a contemporary set of abilities—ones that mix technical experience with inventive problem-solving.

Getting younger folks enthusiastic about these developments and alternatives is the important thing to inspiring a brand new era of execs within the automotive area. That is particularly vital for at the moment’s era of faculty leavers who’ve grown up in a digital world and wish to work in a job that enables them to additional immerse themselves in it.

So, what must be executed?

Trade-wide help for coaching technicians is particularly vital because the automotive business adjustments to incorporate extra non-traditional automobiles akin to EVs. One of many largest challenges we’re seeing at the moment being the widening abilities hole in repairing these automobiles.

The explanations behind this hole are complicated. Technicians aren’t getting the specialist coaching wanted, not as a result of to their very own shortcomings, however due to underlying challenges confronted by impartial workshops. These challenges embrace the price of instruments, lack of governmental help for coaching funding, and the scarcity of time for coaching because of fewer technicians coming into the business.

Though workshop software program instruments can improve effectivity, the unanimous settlement is evident: there have to be extra available coaching for each new and skilled technicians. Nurturing apprenticeship programmes are one surefire approach to help the way forward for automotive and fulfil these present abilities gaps, however extra must be executed.

This duty doesn’t relaxation solely on the workshops; a collective effort is required to handle these rising abilities gaps. The federal government should do extra to domesticate a brand new era of technicians and to equip garages to satisfy these evolving calls for. We can not sit quiet whereas concrete help for vocational abilities is being left behind.

James Lett is a technical skilled at Autodata, a platform that gives mechanics with the technical and actual time data wanted to successfully work on over 40,000 automobiles.