WASHINGTON — The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) is releasing new research on causes and solutions for the current gaps in diesel technician training, recruitment and retention.
“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 entry-level technicians just entering the workforce,” said Robert Braswell, executive director of ATA’s Technology & Maintenance Council. “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.”
Understaffed and Positions Unfilled
“Qualified techs are indispensable to a safe and efficient trucking industry, yet 65.5 percent of shops were understaffed in 2025 with an average of 19.3 percent of positions unfilled,” ATRI said. “The research synthesized findings from techs, shops and training programs.”
According to the study, most techs (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 percent of training program graduates were unqualified in 20 core skill areas, according to diesel shops. In 7 of these core skill areas, each additional hour of training improved tech qualification by more than 16 percent, and as such additional training hours in these areas can improve outcomes. In 6 core skill areas, however, each additional hour of training improved tech qualification by less than 8 percent, highlighting the need for critical curricula upgrades.
Techs Face Major Barriers to Employment
The most common barriers tech face include:
- High cost of acquiring their own tools (29.0%)
- Lack of prior tech knowledge (28.0%)
- Insufficient pay (16.1%)
- Poor shop mentorship (10.8%)
Though pay and schedules were the two aspects of employment that most attracted techs to the trucking industry, techs also ranked the pursuit of more interesting work (ranked 3rd) and greater variety of work (ranked 5th) as vitally important, according to ATRI
“Forty-four percent of trucking techs were considering other tech jobs, with automotive and agriculture the most common alternative industries,” ATRI said. “Dissatisfaction with pay, interactions with management, and variety of work were the aspects of employment that had the most statistically significant association with techs choosing to look for a new job versus staying at their current job. The research also evaluated techs’ perspectives on other industries to identify how trucking’s comparative strengths and weaknesses match up to techs’ varying priorities.”
Read the full report here.
Dana Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has been featured in multiple newspapers, books and magazines across the globe. She is currently based in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.
Hey truck manufacturers, try this; Make a simple truck again. There is no shortage of “Mechanics” but there is a shortage of Computerized Diesel Maintenance Service Technicians.
Electronic components on EVERYTHING. Computers needed for every repair and programing needed for many components. These hunks of junk are no longer trucks. Get rid of the non essential components, bring the price down to normal, and get back to basics.
The maintenance tech part in trucking has several different issues working against each other. Trucks are very difficult to diagnose and repair because almost all systems are computer controlled and even with the “premium” diagnostics software a non-dealership shop can’t get access to all of the information needed to correctly make repairs. Techs purchasing their own tools eats up significant parts of their pay. An experienced diesel tech is relatively rare and are very in-demand so they can often ask for and get salaries that are equal to midlevel management salaries. Combine all of that with an industry that has been in a recession for over 3 years and it makes it hard for shops and carriers to justify paying techs what they are worth without asking them to do the job of one and a half or two techs, which leads to them feeling unapprenticed, underpaid and unhappy, feeding the cycle of turnover in the field. I don’t know if there is a magic fix for everything but an economic recovery in transportation along with progress in the right to repair would certainly help.
Can not agree more to Leander Richmond Statement. A true Mechanic is not the issue its the “Computerized tecs with mechanic knowledge.” Remove the non esential technology work and get back to the basics. James Stephens comment on the “preium diagnostic software” being unavailable to non dealership shops is definitely a role in the mechanic shortage. Who want’s to work with half the needed tools. A computer software tech goes hand in hand with the wrench hands on mechanic. If no changes will be implemented to simplify our trucks, we need them both. Don’t expect to pay less for service and maintenance when more knowledge and education is being required to stay in the trade. After all we work not to just cover our bills, but to make a decent living. This applies to all the working trades. Stay Safe and Blessed.