July 13, 2022—Industry-wide supply chain shortages and labor shortages continue to persist, and as a result a lot of eyes have turned to the Newgate School in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
According to KARE 11, the Newgate School is a tuition-free non-profit that focuses on training unemployed or underemployed individuals to become automotive technicians. The school utilizes donated vehicles for its students to practice on, and those vehicles are sold once they are fixed.
Currently, the school has a waitlist of prospective students wanting to join. This interest seems well warranted, as executive director Blythe Severson explained to KARE 11.
"They're not having any trouble. We're at 100% placement right now with all of our students,” Severson said in the article, in regards to Newgate School students getting job placements.
Severson also noted in the article that becoming an automotive technician is getting to be an increasingly technical job as technology continues to innovate. This requires thorough training approaches amidst an industry faced with labor discrepancies, and can even lead to a high turnover rate.
“There's about three people retiring out of the industry for every one person who is available to come into the industry,” said Severson in the article.
Severson said that one way to help mitigate some issues with the labor market could be by implementing more programs like the one at the Newgate School.
