SACRAMENTO, Calif. — At last month’s EPIC2018 Conference, the EGIA Foundation announced its newly published industry study that provided the impetus of several national initiatives being launched to encourage and develop post-millennial interest and success in an HVAC career.

Weldon Long, EGIA Foundation Trustee and New York Times bestselling author, unveiled "Bridging the HVAC Employment Gap" to an enthusiastic crowd of industry leaders and businesses.

“The EGIA Foundation is taking the lead in addressing one of the most serious threats to the industry: the labor shortage,” said Long. “Focused on promoting HVAC as a first-choice career through a unique coalition of industry stakeholders, this organization is devoted to building the workforce through initiatives including public outreach, mentorship programs, scholarships, and employment opportunities. Through this work, the EGIA Foundation is ensuring the industry can meet labor demands well into the future.“

The EGIA Foundation’s first endeavor was to take a closer look into the awareness and perceptions plaguing the industry by commissioning a comprehensive study performed and analyzed by Decision Analyst. "Bridging the HVAC Employment Gap" takes up the subjects of awareness and familiarity of high school students and their parents about HVAC as an industry and as a career. This publication reports on the learning achieved from a broad-sweeping research study of contractors, educators, manufacturers, and distributors in addition to high school students and parents.

It is undeniable that the HVAC Industry is experiencing a considerable deficit of interested and suitable workers. By their own admission, 64 percent of high school students believe that HVAC is not a career that would make a parent proud, EGIA announced. Unfortunately, often unjustly so, these careers are viewed as substandard or undervalued career choices.

EGIA noted that it’s time to take on the challenge of reversing the misconceptions created by those outside the industry and develop a sustaining workforce made of each successive up-and-coming generation.

“The EGIA Foundation will help shine a light on the incredible, honorable, lifelong career opportunities the home service trades offer,” said Drew Cameron, EGIA Foundation trustee and president of HVAC Sellutions. “An individual can enter the trade with less time spent on education, no college debt, plus they can get a job immediately, and can earn as much as, if not more than, most college graduates.”

Publication date: 10/17/18

Want more HVAC industry news and information? Join The NEWS on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn today!