Most Diesel Repair Shops Understaffed Last Year, ATRI Finds
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A scarcity of diesel technicians facing career obstacles that include low pay rates and high tool costs is a widening concern for a trucking industry that depends on them, according to a new .
“The lack of qualified diesel technicians is a growing problem for all industries that operate heavy-duty equipment. This issue is particularly acute in trucking, where 65.5% of shops were understaffed in 2025 and 19.3% of positions were unfilled on average,” ATRI said in its 61-page report titled “Addressing the Shortage of Qualified Diesel Technicians,” which was authored by ATRI Senior Vice President Dan Murray and Senior Research Associate Alex Leslie.
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The most common barrier reported by technicians in the early stages of their careers is the upfront costs of purchasing tools, followed by the challenge of building knowledge, soft starting pay and a lack of shop mentoring.
ATRI noted while the number of truck drivers in the industry soared 30% during a 10-year stretch from 2014-2024, the number of technicians rose just 23% during the same period. As a result, the disparity in the number of trucks on the road and the people available to maintain them is widening.
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“While there were 6.8 truck drivers for every diesel tech in 2013, there were 7.2 truck drivers for every diesel tech in 2024, even amid a softening freight market,” the report stated.
The trucking industry relies more on diesel service professionals than any other U.S. industry. Last year, it employed 20% of the nation’s 286,500 diesel technicians.
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“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,” said Robert Braswell, executive director of ’ . “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.”
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Nils Jaeger of Volvo Autonomous Solutions says self-driving trucks will complement the industry’s workforce as freight demand grows. Tune in above or by going to .
The ATRI report stressed that shops and technician schools have a mutually beneficial opportunity to help lift the market for diesel service pros.
“Partnerships between shops and training programs pay off,” the report said. “Shops that recruited from training programs had lower turnover and vacancy rates as well as a higher percentage of qualified techs. A median-sized shop with 16 techs that partners with local training programs on recruitment will save $14,910 on tech wages alone during on-the-job training compared with a shop of the same size that does not. Shops that collaborate with training programs on internships and curricula development had vacancy rates that were 5.2 percentage points lower than shops that did not.” The report also found that nearly 61% of diesel technicians launched their careers without any formal training and needed an average of 357 training hours and $8,211 in trainee wages to prepare them.
Having an apprenticeship program can help with technician retention. ATRI noted that the average turnover rate for techs who completed an apprenticeship program were far lower than the average industrywide turnover rate.
Simply keeping tabs on the issues that matter to technicians is also vital to retention.
“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 report noted.
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