Fly-In Speaker Rep. Scholten Talks Workforce Development In FAA Hearing

Enhancing the aviation technician career pathway will require increased partnerships between schools and industry as well as more support from the FAA and other government agencies, Rep. Hillary Scholten (R-Mich.) told attendees at the recent ATEC Fly-In. Several days later, she demonstrated her commitment to the cause, pressing FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker on the agency's progress.

During a Sept. 23 hearing on Boeing's quality improvement effort, Scholten emphasized that a better-trained workforce is one of the company's key initiatives. High-quality training goes hand-in-hand with attracting more candidates to the industry and helping maintain safety levels the public has come to expect.

"There is obviously a critical shortage [of technicians] that impacts many aspects of overall aviation safety," she told Whitaker. The administrator agreed. "It's been a challenge throughout the industry after COVID, because of all the retirements and the loss of a natural transfer of knowledge from generation to generation," Whitaker acknowledged. "The best companies recognize that as a safety risk with their safety management program, and they mitigate those risks by putting in extra training, bringing back retired employees to do mentoring [and] those types of things."

Pressed by Scholten to discuss ongoing initiatives to grow the technician population, Whitaker said the agency is working "very hard" to increase the size of the candidate pool, citing awareness programs in schools as an example. "It is very competitive, and we have quite a few initiatives underway to generate interest among younger generations to join this field," he added.

Scholten's discussion with the FAA's top official adds to her longstanding commitment to workforce development. Last year, she sponsored the Honoring Vocational Education Act, which will ensure individuals who attend job training programs, trade schools, union apprenticeships, and similar pathways are recognized as obtaining a postsecondary non-degree award by the Census Bureau.

"We need students to choose these jobs as viable alternatives," she told ATEC Fly-In attendees. "Part of that [is] having a cultural reckoning around, What are highly skilled jobs? What is higher education? The skills that these students are learning to maintain aircraft are far beyond what I learned in law school."

Scholten is among a bipartisan group of legislators who supported the Part 147 changes supported by ATEC and others. She's also advocated for FAA's grant programs for technicians and others. However prudent regulatory policy is only part of the workforce development equation. Industry participation to both build awareness and leverage opportunities plays a crucial role as well "Industry engagement is crucial, whether through apprenticeships or internships," she told Fly-In attendees. "It's clear that we have to build more pathways for students to gain real-world experiences while they're still in school. As policymakers, we can support these partnerships through legislation that incentivizes industry participation and makes it easier for schools to develop hands-on training programs."

Listen to the hearing exchange here.