Jobs for heavy vehicle and mobile equipment service technicians are expected to grow by five percent between 2014 and 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
That growth is as “about as fast as average for all occupations,” according to the web version of the federal agency’s 2016-2017 edition of its Occupational Outlook Handbook.
The BLS projects that 10,100 new jobs in that classification — which appears to include mechanics who use service trucks in their work — will be added in the U.S. by 2024 compared with the 186,500 employed in that vocation in 2014. According to the BLS, duties of heavy vehicle and mobile equipment service technicians typically include traveling to worksites “to repair large equipment, such as cranes.” They also “repair and maintain engines, hydraulic systems, transmissions, and electrical systems of agricultural, industrial, construction, and rail equipment.”
The median pay — the level at which half those in the job earn more and half earn less — was $45,930 a year or $22.08 an hour in 2014. The median pay was $43,820 a year or $21.07 an hour in 2012.
While the technicians usually work indoors, the BLS report also notes that “some service technicians travel to worksites to make repairs, often driving long distances because it is often too expensive to transport heavy or mobile equipment to a shop.”
The technicians who specialize in field service are generally more experienced, the BLS notes.
Most of these technicians work for private companies although about 14 percent were employed by governments in 2014. That was double the seven percent who worked for governments in 2012.
Mobile heavy equipment mechanics, except engines, make up the bulk of the occupational category — 124,700 jobs in 2014, which is projected to rise five percent to 131,300 jobs in 2024.
Farm equipment mechanics and service technician jobs are expected to increase seven percent to 43,200 jobs in 2024, an increase by 2,900 jobs of the 40,300 in 2014.
Rail car repairer jobs meanwhile are projected to increase just three percent, to 22,000 in 2024.
Jobs for a similar occupation— diesel service technicians and mechanics — are also expected to increase faster than average — by 12 percent — in the decade leading up to 2024, according to the BLS.
The agency projects that 31,600 new jobs in that classification will be added in the U.S. by 2024 compared with the 263,900 employed in that vocation in 2014.
The median annual pay was $43,630, or $20.93 an hour, in 2014. It was $42,220 a year or $20.35 an hour in 2012.
