Luke Otterstad | Staff Writer
ottersl@imail.losrios.edu
A retiring workforce, including more than 50 percent of the Federal Aviation Administration’s electronics technicians, is creating a crucial demand for replacement workers within the next five years, according to a City College electronics professor.
“If we allow [these] technicians to retire and don’t replace them, the technology our survival depends on will fail us in the very near future,” warned Melvin Duvall, electronics professor.
The sharp rise in the retirement rate is a broader phenomenon economists say is caused by the baby boomer bust -– a term describing the lack of new workers to replace older retirees because of U.S. birthrates dropping nearly half since their peak in 1957.
Working to address this problem at some level by providing essential training for replacement workers, City College is leading the way through its electronics technology program in cooperation with an FAA internship program.
City College is one of only a handful of FAA-approved colleges that offers an internship for college students known as the Technical Operations Collegiate Training Initiative. Through the TO-CTI internship, nearly 50 students
from City College have gained valuable job training and experience, with three serving as interns this year, according to Duvall.
“It’s basically a part-time job,” explained student Roman Dzhangetov, who is currently an intern with the FAA. And similar to the benefits of a part-time job, Dzhangetov said interns earn about a $30,000 salary –- about half of what he says graduates of the program make if hired as technicians after their training.
The state’s recent shortage of money has not directly affected the internship program, as it receives its funding through the federal government, but students who expect future City College class cancellations will likely present problems for those trying to get into the various 16 classes required by the FAA to be taken within a two-year period of time.
With a future outlook of a high demand for electronics technician jobs, Duvall encourages students to consider the field as a rewarding career with opportunities almost everywhere.
“Just about every place where you see technology, you’ll find people who have gone through our program.”
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