Here's the problem:

* ... and the DOL Occupational Outlook Handbook predicts that the Heating, Ventilating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration service technician industry is set to grow by 18 to 26 percent between 2004 and 2014.

* 2006 ... 22,000 positions for heating, ventilating

* 2008 ... there are 60,000 unfilled positions, ranging from entry-level to senior technicians.

* US Department of Labor projects HVACR technician shortage rate increase of 24 percent over the next 5 years ...

* HVACR is a $200-billion-a-year U.S. industry, and second only to transportation as the largest consumer of energy.

Some people disagree with the numbers above. Some even say that there is no "looming" skilled labor shortage. Unfortunately, the lack of skilled HVACR service technicians is all too real to the employers and equipment manufacturers trying to find them.

One contributing factor (which we are all familiar with) is the coming retirement of the baby boomer generation, those persons born between 1946 and 1964. Eric Seleznow, Executive Director of the Governor's Workforce Investment Board of the State of Maryland, states:

"It is estimated that 70 million Americans will retire in the next 10 years. Only 40 million workers will be available to replace them."

This 30 million worker shortfall may be lessened somewhat by immigration and workers who don't retire at the ages expected, either by choice or out of necessity. We are just beginning to realize that hidden within the group of the 70 million Americans mentioned above is another very unique and important demographic. But more about that later.

Here's one solution:

Establish partnerships between accredited Career Technical Institutions and the frontline educators employed by them to produce the next generation of HVACR service technicians.

To meet the demand for skilled HVACR service technicians, the Mechanical Service Contractors of America (http://www.mcaa.org/msca/) and the United Association (http://ua.org/) have implemented a joint recruitment program called 5 STAR Careers (www.5starcareers.com).

5 STAR Careers is aimed at recruiting both experienced and newly graduated HVACR service technicians. Printed brochures containing all Web site information will be mailed out upon request.

On the 5 STAR Careers Web site, entry level and experienced HVACR service technicians can post a Career Profile which is instantly visible to over 1,200 MSCA HVACR contractors and over 300 UA HVACR training programs nationwide.

Our goal is to connect career technical training to real employment opportunities. By registering with 5 STAR Careers graduates of accredited private and public career technical HVACR training programs throughout the United States can, without charge, present their Career Profile to HVACR employers at both the local and national level.

The United Association has articulation agreements in place with

HVAC Excellence (http://www.hvacexcellence.org/) and PHARA (http://www.pharahvacr.org/index.php)

If your HVACR program has received programmatic accreditation from either of the above organizations, your graduates can qualify for advanced placement within United Association HVACR Apprenticeship Training programs. UA Apprenticeship programs provide high level training as well as college degrees.

The agreement also recognizes the credentialing of persons who have passed specific levels of HVACR certification conducted by both HVAC Excellence and NATE--North American Technician Excellence (http://www.natex.org/index.asp).

Additionally, participating in the 5 STAR Careers program allows career technical HVACR programs to meet many of the accountability requirements of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Improvement Act of 2006.

As of February 2008, there are over 350 Career Profiles listed on the 5 STAR Careers Web site.

If you are interested in partnering with the UA/MSCA 5 STAR Careers HVACR Service Technician recruitment program or if you would like more information, please contact me at stevea@uanet.org.

The Hidden Group

If you are retiring within the next 10 years, read on.

Hidden within the retiring workforce are the educators, curriculum developers, and textbook writers; in short, us.

As technical educators, what makes us so unique?

We have moved through one world and into another. We began in the Electro-Mechanical Age, where devices bumped and pulled against each other in ways one could figure out. You could actually see what the machine was doing.

Now we have made the transition into the Digital Age, and in this age it is not enough to be clever. One cannot figure out devices without moving parts, sealed shut at a factory.

In the past, a technology curriculum could be based on the fact that the students were meeting you half-way. By that I mean that they were working on their cars, tearing lawn mowers apart, and building tree forts. They entered our shops and classrooms with a working knowledge of hand tools and mechanical concepts.

Many of the students entering the work force and our training programs today no longer have this type of background knowledge. At the UA we have redesigned our HVACR curriculum to reflect this fact. Time spent on the basics is never wasted.

Does having an underlying knowledge of how electro-mechanical devices worked make us unique educators in the digital age?

Does having a picture of a vacuum tube in your mind enable you to present a lesson on field-effect transistors with greater clarity and insight?

Does your explanation of how to log on to the school's wireless network go perfectly because you once spent two days trying different IRQs and flipping dip switches, trying to get your network card and mouse to work at the same time?

Does your web publishing class run smoother and do your students gaze at you in awe because you have every version of DOS and Windows in your head?

I don't know.

But I would enjoy discussing it with you.

See you in Biloxi!

Steven H. Allen is Senior Consultant, United Association HVACR Education and Recruitment, and Vice-Chair, Green Mechanical Council.