Although this may seem like a healthy number of technicians, industry insiders report that there is a shortage of 60,000 trained service repair technicians, and that only about 40,000 new technicians are expected to graduate from training programs this year. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, automotive service personnel held about 775,000 jobs in 1996. The majority worked for retail and wholesale automotive dealers and independent automotive repair shops, and gasoline service stations. Others found employment in automotive service facilities at department, automotive and home supply stores. Pay scale for these full-time employees, when factoring in a shop s sales volume, offered a better look into the salary picture.
Managers continue to generally be paid with a salary.
Technicians continue to generally be hourly employees. Although there was more money made in repairs compared to two years ago, there s less room to provide the work, as the average number of service bays declined slightly from 1998 s survey. Average number of service bays is 4.6, down from the 4.7 reported in 1998. Inc. s President James Lang, over the past 17 years, the number of service stations and garages performing repairs plummeted by 75,000 outlets. Lang also reported that the number of retail service stations between 1995 and 1998 dropped from 101,100 to 97,600.