A new study examining aviation maintenance employment by USA suggests maintenance companies take steps now to head off a looming shortage of government-certificated aviation workers.
The report from the Aeronautical Repair Station Association (ARSA) and the Aviation Technical Education Council (ATEC) finds notable regional variations in the aviation maintenance employment picture, but concludes aviation maintenance companies may soon see an insufficient hiring pool.
“The report is about defining a problem: the desperate need for more-qualified, well-trained men and women to funnel into aviation carriers,” says ATEC president Ryan Goertzen in a media release. ATEC is a nonprofit group that advocates on behalf of aviation maintenance schools.
“The authors recommend companies and interested groups build strategic partnerships on local and regional levels between employers, educational institutions and community and government organisation,” says the release.
The report, released 25 February, notes that insufficient and inaccurate data complicated the study, but it still lays out broad trends by US regions.
For instance, average median hourly wages of aviation maintenance workforce have remained largely flat for a decade in the southeastern USA, but the number of students completing aviation degree and certification programmes in that region is increasing.
In the southwest USA, employment of aviation maintenance workers has been stagnant since 2009 and has declined over the last decade.
Although hourly wages in the region have largely remained flat for a decade, wages in Louisiana – where MRO provider AAR has expanded in recent years – jumped by more than $4 between 2008 and 2013.
“The southwest region shows a promising trend for students with aviation maintenance degrees and certificates entering the workforce,” the report says. “As these graduates enter the workforce and complete the FAA certification process they will slowly replace the large number of aviation maintenance employees retiring or exiting the workforce.”
Industry employment and industry wages in the western USA have increased more than the national average since 2009, the report says.
Wages in the eastern USA have been flat since 2009 but remain higher than the national average.
In the northwest USA, industry employment has dipped in recent years and wages, with the exception of those in Washington, have remained fairly flat.
“What might be the biggest takeaway is the slow but steady climb of Washington’s wages since the Great Recession. This is likely indicative of Boeing’s performance,” the report says.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
