How to Combat the Technician Shortage
Industry Shows Ways to Recruit and Retain the Best Talent
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For years, the commercial vehicle industry has been dealing with a growing shortage of truck technicians, which has led to several key issues, most notably the “graying” of the present workforce, the “tsunami” wave of retirements and the difficulties of attracting younger workers into the commercial vehicle maintenance sector.
However, the technician shortage that fleets and service providers/dealers face is a nuanced phenomenon, and perhaps more complex than many may realize.
Some industry experts say the problem lies not at all in a lack of candidates, but “qualified” candidates. In fact, the number of students matriculating out of vocational programs seeking diesel tech employment has been rising in recent years. The impediment is the exodus of new technicians who have decided this industry is just not their cup of tea. A 2018 survey of service shops by the American Trucking Associations Technology & Maintenance Council found that, while 19.2% of respondents had a shortage of tech applicants, a much higher percentage (80.8%) of shops had a shortage of qualified tech applicants. Moreover, a study from the American Truck Dealers 2024 Dealer Workforce Study found the annualized turnover rate for entry-level/trainee techs was 44%.
“If you have a high turnover rate, the problem may not be money. It may be your culture instead,” said George Arrants, vice president at ASE Education Foundation. “Particularly when it comes to entry-level technicians, misaligned expectations or failure to onboard and mentor techs well when they are starting out can be root causes. Always look in the mirror first.”
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The same can be said for fleet operations as well. Finding a way to keep new technicians motivated enough to remain on the job within their first two years can be quite challenging for several reasons. These include working hours, compensation, cost of tools, workplace environment/conditions, and unmet/mismatched expectations of what being an entry-level vehicle technician is. It is true the number of diesel vo-tech programs have shrunk in recent years. Yet, many new techs matriculate from automotive or agricultural tech programs with the intention of entering the diesel repair industry. That path is more challenging, but has greater potential for compensation as opposed to the automotive sector. However, that may not always be the case.
Training and Pay
The American Transportation Research Institute recently released new research on causes and solutions for the current gaps in diesel technician training, recruitment and retention. Qualified technicians, the report said, are indispensable to a safe and efficient trucking industry, yet 65.5% of shops were understaffed in 2025 with an average of 19.3% of positions unfilled.
ATRI’s report indicates annual completions for diesel and heavy vehicle technicians have actually increased since 2021, rising from about 10,750 to 11,250 through 2023. That’s the good news. Completions rose even more from 2013 to 2017, peaking at about 12,750 before beginning a slow decline until 2020. So, in terms of students matriculating into the commercial maintenance industry, the numbers are on the upswing once again. But that’s only part of the story.
Most technicians (61.8%) enter the career without any formal training, requiring an average of 357 training hours and $8,211 in trainee wages to prepare them. Even with formal training, more than 30% of training program graduates were unqualified in 20 core skill areas, according to diesel shops. In seven of these core skill areas, each additional hour of training improved tech qualification by more than 16%, and as such additional training hours in these areas can improve outcomes, according to ATRI.
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The most common barrier reported by technicians was the cost of acquiring their own tools (29%), followed by a lack of prior tech knowledge (28%), insufficient pay (16.1%), and poor shop mentorship (10.8%).
With a lack of qualified techs and stiff competition from other industries, tech employment in the trucking industry is not keeping up with demand, especially when it comes to retaining technicians just entering the workforce. ATRI’s report helps trucking shops identify not only where they and their training program partners can improve but also how to better leverage our industry’s existing strengths.
ATRI’s report notes that geographic disparities exacerbate the difficulty of hiring qualified techs. In many states, the number of newly graduating techs is disproportionately small relative to the number of techs employed in the state. For example, the report says, South Dakota training programs graduated the equivalent of 9.4% of the state’s tech workforce in 2023, indicating a robust supply of trained techs relative to the state’s need. By contrast, North Carolina training programs only graduated the equivalent of 0.3% of the state’s tech workforce in 2023, indicating a severe lack of trained techs. The result of these geographic disparities is that many aspiring techs move out of state to seek either higher quality training or better employment opportunities. Many states with disproportionately high numbers of graduates are home to large, nationally recognized tech training programs that attract students from across the country who plan to return home after graduating. Shortfalls in some states may be supplied by neighboring states: Training programs in Kentucky, for example, are well-placed to meet the needs of employers in Indiana and Ohio. In other areas with high demand for techs, however, employers have been compelled to offer relocation incentives, the ATRI report states.
Average annual compensation for techs in the trucking industry grew by 39.8% over the last decade to $57,362 in 2024. While this rate of increase was among the fastest of all peer industries, trucking still trailed several competing industries in overall tech compensation. Independent repair and maintenance, passenger transit and rental/leasing services — three of the most directly comparable industries to trucking — each paid techs, on average, between $1,500 and $4,000 more per year than trucking, while wholesalers or dealers paid $7,000 more than trucking. Tech wages can be even higher, however; the 2024 ATD Dealership Workforce Study reported an average annual wage of $73,959 for 2023. Wage differentials between industries can be a major impetus for turnover, especially during a period of rapid wage growth, reports ATRI.
Staying Satisfied
The number of new technicians in the labor pipeline may be out of the control of maintenance employers, but keeping those that fleets and service providers/dealers have hired certainly is. ATRI’s report notes that 44% of surveyed trucking techs are currently considering alternative employment. Many trucking techs are considering jobs as techs in other industries: automotive (12%), agriculture (10.2%), buses or passenger transit (5.6%) and construction (4.6%). Higher pay was the top-ranked reason trucking techs chose to enter the trucking industry, but it received their second-lowest satisfaction rating once on the job. Dissatisfaction with pay, interactions with management, and variety of work were the greatest indicators of which techs were looking for a new job. Of the 12 surveyed aspects of employment, these three aspects — plus interactions with colleagues, interesting work, and pay incentives for additional certification — had a statistically significant difference in satisfaction ratings between techs intending to remain at their current shop and techs looking at other opportunities. Conversely, techs who are satisfied in these “make-or-break” aspects of employment are likely to remain at their current job, according to ATRI.
(Daimler Truck North America)
Techs’ perceptions of other industries show where trucking can improve and where it can tout its success. Techs believe that construction and agriculture offer better variety of work, more interesting work, and better pay incentives for additional training than trucking offers, but they believe that trucking offers better hours, cleaner shops and safer shops. By emphasizing and publicizing these strengths relative to other industries, trucking shops can better target the techs whose priorities are best suited for the industry. While large percentages of shops utilize some retention techniques — increased pay (100%), updating shop equipment (97.8%), and providing training for additional certification (93.3%) — they are not always the most effective strategies. Some of the most effective retention techniques are underutilized, such as cycling responsibilities and moving technicians out of third shift.
Learn More
Mentoring and apprenticeship programs are an effective retention tool in addition to their recruitment benefits. The average turnover for techs who completed an apprenticeship program was 58.2% lower than the overall average tech turnover rate (6.9% versus 16.5%). TMC and ASE’s Education Foundation have partnered on templates for establishing apprenticeship programs to help fleets and service provider/dealers foster the development of such programs. A detailed report on this subject .
TMC also has developed a recommended practice on how to develop a mentoring program titled RP 1614, Technician Mentor Program Guidelines. It covers various aspects of the mentor development process including return on investment (ROI) metrics, control planning, minimum qualifications, on-the-job-training, compensation, selection, roles and responsibilities. For more information on RP 1614, contact TMC at tmc@trucking.org.
ATRI’s report does an excellent job of placing proper focus on the correct causes of the present technician shortage issue. Fleet maintenance executives and managers would do well reading its findings and studying its conclusions. You can .
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