Quick links: Shrinking labor force, lower unemployment rate | Colorado Springs economic update |
Pueblo resident Jim Spitzer has a message for young people who want an in-demand career that crosses industries and comes with a fat salary: Get your airframe and powerplant, i.e., airplane mechanics, degree, and send your resume to a small shop, a big shop … Caterpillar or Disney?
That’s right. Spitzer is a 73-year-old contract mechanic and he’s been wrenching on planes for 54 years. His speciality: private jets like the one he maintains for a Saudi prince or the other one owned by 1996 astronaut Donald Pettit.
Spitzer — along with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Boeing and business analysts all over — says the aviation industry is in a massive pickle because it had a 10% shortage of airline maintenance mechanics in 2025. That shortage is expected to grow as high as 27% by 2027, and with a giant wave of retiring mechanics coming, the global demand for new ones is forecast to be 716,000 by 2042…