With the aging workforce (and expected increasing retirements over the next several years) especially in the maintenance and industrial trades, the US Department of labor is projecting that the job outlook for HVAC technicians, for example, to be excellent particularly for those with training. Employment for these positions is expected to increase faster than the average for all occupations through 2014.1 General maintenance and repair is a large occupation with significant turnover. Many job openings are expected to result from the retirement of many experienced maintenance workers over the next decade.
In a study of Wisconsin manufacturers, it is believed that organizations will have difficulty hiring and retaining replacement workers, but also finding those with the appropriate skills and work ethic to undertake the move toward a new economy.2 When these organizations were questioned about what they would like to see in the education system to meet the needs of their industries, approximately 40 percent of the responses were related to basic skills, technical and process training. The question is do you have the personnel in place and have a plan of how to train them?
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