$71,000 to fix cars? How dealerships and colleges hope to grow new force of auto technicians

A national shortage of automotive technicians has sparked a program to get students into those well-paying jobs in dealerships in New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

The program is a partnership of the National Automobile Dealers Association, the National Urban League and the Urban League of Louisiana. The first class consists of 12 students at Delgado Community College and nine students at Baton Rouge Community College. The students will work full time at local auto dealerships, earning starting wages of $14.25 an hour, as part of an 18-month apprenticeship. After the process ends, the students will be certified mechanics.

Will Green, president of the Louisiana Automobile Dealers Association, said there’s a need nationally for between 300,000 to 400,000 automobile technicians. The shortage is due to retiring baby boomers and the number of people who left the workforce during the COVID pandemic.

“We need to do a better job of advertising the fact that, specific to Louisiana, the average auto technician earns $71,000 annually,” he said. “We need to think outside of the box and partner with good associations and good resources like the Urban League of Louisiana.”

The old days of mechanics coming home with oil-stained clothes are gone, Green said. With the sophisticated electronic systems in automobiles today and the increasing number of electric vehicles, technicians are more likely to diagnose problems with a laptop.

“A lot of people liken it to playing a video game,” he said.

Cherie Duckworth, vice president for workforce development with the Urban League of Louisiana, said the goal of the program is to move people from unemployment into jobs where they can have a career and earn a “savings wage.”

The program will be boosted by a $1.2 million appropriation secured by U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, that will allow the Urban League to expand apprenticeship programs.

While the National Automobile Dealers Association budgeted money for one cycle of classes, Duckworth said the hope is to expand the program by offering apprenticeships at other community colleges in Louisiana and across the U.S.