Collision Technician
From 2017 to 2021, the total number of collision technicians employed had been
on a steady decline, but that trend was reversed for 2022 with an increase of a
little over 0.5 percent. The demand for new entrant collision technicians will be
mostly from occupational separations. Nearly 5,500 unfilled positions from 2022
add to the 2023 demand projections. For 2023, the total new entrant demand is
31, 426, and for 2024 those numbers are lower at 20,517.
One concerning trend observed this year is the escalating U.S. vehicle theft rates.
Despite a high recovery rate, the sheer volume of stolen vehicles poses a
challenge for the insurance industry. According to the National Insurance Crime
Bureau (NICB), vehicle thefts remained on the rise in the first half of 2023. The
U.S. saw more than 1 million vehicles stolen in 2022, the most since 2008. Of
those vehicles stolen, more than 85% were recovered, including 34% on the same
day of the theft. Domestic pickups have the highest rates of total loss due to
theft—over 6%, full-size pickups represented 25% of the over one million vehicles
stolen in 2022 (down from 33% in 2021). Despite the high recovery rates for
stolen vehicles, claims resulting from attempted thefts and other forms of
vandalism are also on the rise. Vehicles produced in Asia accounted for 48% of all
repairable vandalism claims in 2020; that share increased to over 60% in 2022 and
is over 68% through Q3 2023.