The HVAC industry faces a shortage of skilled labor. There is no question about it. However, the industry’s problem does not need to be your problem.

The HVAC industry has known for some time about the threats of the growing labor shortage and the increasing pressure to find qualified labor as the current workforce retires and demand rises.

Remington College’s Nashville, Tennessee, campus opened an HVAC lab as part of its new diploma program offering. The lab was renovated, thanks to campus efforts combined with community and manufacturer donations.

A shortage of skilled labor is an industry problem, a specialty trade problem, and a national problem. It does not need to be your problem if you effectively utilize the manpower mix.

The labor shortage in the skilled trades has turned the search for new talent into a treasure hunt.

It’s no secret — there’s a shortage of skilled workers in the trades. Here at The NEWS, we’ve heard a lot about it, read a lot about it, and written a lot about it.

Unfortunately, much of what has been said and written in terms of the labor shortage takes the form of gloom-and-doom statistics and anecdotes that just serve to increase contractors’ worries.

We’ve all made New Year’s resolutions — or at least most of us have. In fact, 41 percent of Americans regularly make New Year’s resolutions, according to statisticbrain.com. And, for various reasons, 42 percent fail to achieve their goal.

On June 15, 2017, President Trump signed the executive order expanding apprenticeship programs and vocational training. This executive order calls on the Secretary of Labor, Alexander Acosta, “to propose regulations that promote the development of apprenticeship programs by industry and trade groups, nonprofit organizations, unions, and joint labor-management organizations,”

The Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence, which recognizes outstanding instruction in the skilled trades in U.S. public high schools, awarded $510,000 to the three first-place winners and seven second-place winners. Harbor Freight Tools made additional donations totaling $44,000 to 44 semi-finalists.