Skills Shortage or Exposure Shortage

For years, the conversation around workforce development has centered on a single phrase: skilled trades shortage.

But I’d push back on that framing, at least partially. We don’t just have a shortage of skilled workers. We have a shortage of students who ever saw these careers as an option. Students cannot pursue careers they don’t know exist. And nowhere is that truth more visible, or more urgent, than in automotive education.

The Industry Has Already Changed. Education Is Still Catching Up.

When most parents, students, and even counselors think about automotive careers, they often imagine the industry as it existed 20 or 30 years ago. A technician standing next to a vehicle with a wrench. Oil changes. Brake jobs. Engine work.

Those jobs still exist. But they represent a shrinking slice of what the industry actually needs today.

Global EV sales rose 25% in 2024, surpassing 17 million units worldwide, and 2025 is expected to be a milestone year with EV sales surpassing 20 million. Meaning more than one in four cars sold globally will be electric. In the U.S., 60% of EV sales in 2024 were hybrids, a segment that demands an entirely different technical skill set than traditional internal combustion vehicles. Automotive Manufacturing SolutionsAutomotive Manufacturing Solutions

The technician of the future needs to understand high-voltage systems, battery technologies, charging infrastructure, CAN Bus communications, electric motors and generators, diagnostic software, sensor systems, and data interpretation. These are not simply automotive skills. They are technology skills, and they’re in critical short supply.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the U.S. will need 35,000 additional EV technicians by 2028, yet existing training programs aren’t producing enough graduates to meet this demand. EEPower

The TechForce Foundation reports the automotive training pipeline is meeting only 42% of annual demand – with the country needing 241,842 new entrant technicians each year while schools and colleges are producing only 101,743 graduates. Tomorrow’s Technician.

That’s not a small gap. That’s a structural crisis, and it starts with exposure.

Why Classroom Training Technology Changes Everything

One of the biggest barriers facing schools that want to modernize automotive education is simple: live electric vehicles are expensive, physically large, and high-risk in classroom settings.

Working with high-voltage systems requires extensive safety protocols. Most programs especially at the secondary level, simply don’t have the resources, space, or safety infrastructure to give every student meaningful access to a real EV.

This is exactly where purpose-built educational training systems like LJ Create’s Electric Vehicle and Hybrid Vehicle panel trainers fill a critical gap.

The LJ Create Electric Vehicle Systems Panel Trainer provides students and instructors with the opportunity to demonstrate, investigate, and fault-find a simulation of the electrical system of a typical electric vehicle, with safe test points for investigating electrical circuits and fault-insertion capabilities that simulate real-world system issues to develop troubleshooting and diagnostic skills aligned with industry practices. LJ Create

LJ Create’s EV Systems Lab provides instruction at three levels: Complete Vehicle Systems -where students can “operate” each type of vehicle, measure what is happening during various modes of operation, and troubleshoot common problems; Common EV Sub-Systems -providing underpinning knowledge and hands-on troubleshooting with the most critical EV components; and EV Electrical and Electronics Fundamentals – a desktop training system providing specific instruction and practice in the basic skills students will need as they complete their studies. Kleineducational

Students can safely explore power flow, understand charging principles, analyze faults, learn diagnostics, and develop real troubleshooting skills, all within a controlled classroom environment.

More importantly, they build confidence. And confidence is often the first step toward career interest.

The Numbers Are Stark – Especially for Women

Despite representing 47% of the U.S. labor force, women have never accounted for more than 27.8% of automotive manufacturing workers. In the skilled technician pipeline, the representation gap is even wider. USITC

Many women who do enter the automotive sector choose to pivot or change industries due in part to unfocused recruiting practices, limited representation, and a lack of role models. HR Dive

A 2025 Deloitte study found that 81% of UK respondents believe women are underrepresented in automotive leadership, and cited persistent unconscious bias, inflexible working policies, and a lack of accountability for diversity targets as contributing to a sense of stagnation. fleetnews

But here’s what the data also tells us: the issue is not capability. It is visibility.

Women make more than 80% of car purchasing decisions in the U.S. They are literally driving this industry’s revenue. Yet they remain dramatically underrepresented in the workforce that keeps those vehicles running. Holtautomotivestaffing

Toyota North America has seen success recruiting women by posting videos capturing the experiences of current team members. As one Toyota executive put it: “Hearing directly from those working in the various manufacturing jobs helps prospective hires envision new possibilities. There is a power in ‘seeing’ yourself.” WardsAuto

The same principle applies in the classroom. When a young woman sits down at an EV training system, investigates a battery management fault, runs a diagnostic sequence, and correctly identifies the problem something shifts. She doesn’t just learn a skill. She begins to see herself in a career she may have never previously considered.

That moment of visibility is worth more than any recruitment campaign.

This Is Bigger Than Automotive

The workforce challenge we’re describing extends well beyond cars.

Across manufacturing, transportation, energy infrastructure, and logistics, employers are seeking individuals who can combine technical knowledge with critical thinking and real-world troubleshooting. Service professionals performing or teaching diagnostics on Battery Electric Vehicles, Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles, and Hybrid Electric Vehicles often have incomplete foundational knowledge in high-voltage electrical systems, safety protocols, and OEM-specific diagnostics highlighting just how wide the skills gap truly is. Street Insider

The future belongs to people who can bridge technology and application. That’s exactly what modern Career and Technical Education was built to do, and why tools that make complex technology accessible in the classroom matter so much.

Despite the rising relevance of electric vehicles, many technical institutions have not yet aligned their curricula to meet the needs of the EV ecosystem. The schools that will be most successful in the next decade won’t simply add new equipment. They will create experiences, experiences that allow students to see themselves in careers they never considered. Evacad

What We Can Do Now

The solution isn’t one single thing. It’s a combination of:

Updating the image of automotive education. Show students what the work actually looks like today – software, data, diagnostics, electrical systems, problem-solving. Not just wrenches.

Investing in accessible training technology. Systems like LJ Create’s EV and Hybrid trainers let programs introduce cutting-edge concepts safely and affordably, long before a student ever stands next to a live high-voltage vehicle.

Creating space for girls and young women to explore. Not by lowering the bar – by widening the door. By showing them that analytical thinking, attention to detail, and technology fluency are exactly the skills modern automotive careers reward.

Building industry-education pipelines. Partnerships between employers, CTE programs, and workforce development organizations ensure students aren’t just learning skills they’re learning skills that lead somewhere.

The Exposure Shortage Is Solvable

Before we can solve a workforce shortage, we must first solve the exposure shortage.

The technician shortage is real. The urgency is real. But the talent is out there sitting in classrooms right now, waiting for someone to show them a career they didn’t know they could have.

Sometimes, all it takes is giving a student the chance to sit down at a training system, run a diagnostic, find the fault, and realize: I can do this.

That moment of recognition is where the workforce of the future begins.

Source: Skills Shortage or Exposure Shortage

At Aidex Educational Systems, we partner with educators, industry leaders, and workforce advocates to build those moments — equipping CTE programs with the tools, technologies, and support to prepare every student for the careers of tomorrow.

Learn more at aidex.com or reach out directly, we’d love to connect.

Director of CTE Impact & Alignment | Workforce Development | Automotive, Diesel & Workforce Pathways | Bridging Education → Industry → Careers