Electronic Home Entertainment Equipment Repairers

• Nature of the Work

  Electronic home entertainment equipment repairers, also called service technicians, repair radios, televisions, stereos, recorders, public address systems, slide and motion picture projectors, video cameras, video games, home security systems, microwave ovens, and electronic organs. Some repairers specialize in one kind of equipment; others repair many types.

  They replace faulty parts or make adjustments, such as focusing and converging the picture or correcting the color balance of a television set. They may also make recordings and listen to playbacks to detect problems. Some install and repair automobile radios.

• Employment

  Electronic home entertainment equipment repairers held about 34,000 jobs in 1994. Nearly one-third were self-employed, a larger proportion than in most other repairer occupations. Most repairers work in electronic repair shops and service centers or in stores that sell and service electronic home entertainment products. Employment is distributed in much the same way as the population.

• Job Outlook

  Employment of electronic home entertainment equipment repairers is expected to decline through the year 2005. Improvements in reliability and ease of servicing should reduce service requirements even though the amount of equipment in use is expected to increase. Job opportunities should be good, nevertheless, due to the need to replace the many electronic home entertainment equipment repairers who transfer to higher paying occupations requiring a knowledge of electronics, such as computer and office machine repairer. (See introductory part of this section for information on working conditions, training requirements, earnings, and sources of additional information.)

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