Job prospects for highly skilled heating, air-conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers are expected to be very good, particularly for those with technical school or formal apprenticeship training to install, remodel, and service new and existing systems. In addition to job openings created by employment growth, thousands of openings will result from the need to replace workers who transfer to other occupations or leave the labor force.
Concern for the environment and energy conservation should continue to prompt the development of new energy-saving heating and air-conditioning systems. An emphasis on better energy management should lead to the replacement of older systems and the installation of newer, more efficient systems in existing homes and buildings. Also, demand for maintenance and service work should increase as businesses and home owners strive to keep systems operating at peak efficiency. Regulations prohibiting the discharge of CFC and HCFC refrigerants and banning CFC production by the year 2000 also should continue to result in demand for technicians to replace many existing systems, or modify them to use new environmentally safe refrigerants.
In addition, the continuing focus on improving indoor air quality should contribute to the growth of jobs for heating, air-conditioning, and refrigeration technicians. Also, certain businesses contribute to a growing need for refrigeration. For example, nearly 50 percent of products sold in convenience stores require some sort of refrigeration. Supermarkets and convenience stores have a very large inventory of refrigerated equipment. This huge inventory will also create increasing demand for service technicians in installation, maintenance, and repair.
Employment of heating, air-conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers is expected to increase about as fast as the average for all occupations through the year 2008. As the population and economy grow, so does the demand for new residential, commercial, and industrial climate-control systems. People and businesses depend on their climate control systems and must keep them in good working order, regardless of economic conditions. Technicians who specialize in installation work only, may experience periods of unemployment when the level of new construction activity declines, but maintenance and repair work usually remains relatively stable.