America’s Skilled-Trades Shortage: Ford’s CEO Warns “We Are in Trouble”
Ford CEO Jim Farley is sounding the alarm on a growing crisis in the U.S. labor market: a deepening shortage of skilled, hands-on workers. Speaking on the Office Hours: Business Edition podcast, Farley revealed that Ford currently has 5,000 open mechanic positions, many of which can pay up to $120,000 a year—nearly twice the median salary of the average American employee. Yet the company still struggles to find qualified applicants.
And Ford isn’t alone. Farley emphasized that the difficulty in filling these roles mirrors a much wider national problem. Tradespeople—from emergency responders to truck drivers, factory workers, electricians, and plumbers—are in critically short supply. “We are in trouble in our country,” Farley told host Monica Langley. “We’re not talking about this enough. There are more than a million open roles in essential trades right now.”
A Growing Gap in Manufacturing
Despite political promises to restore American manufacturing—most notably from President Donald Trump—there remains a significant mismatch between available industrial jobs and workers willing or able to take them. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that over 400,000 manufacturing positions remained vacant as of August, even with unemployment sitting at 4.3%, higher than in recent years.
A joint 2024 study by Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute found that more than half of surveyed manufacturing companies identified recruiting and retaining workers as their biggest challenge, reinforcing Farley’s concerns.
The Trades Built Generations—But Training Is Falling Behind
Farley often references his own family’s connection to Ford when discussing the importance of skilled work. His grandfather, one of the company’s earliest employees and a Model T builder, was able to carve out a stable, prosperous life because of opportunities in the trades. Farley believes the same pathway should still be accessible today—but the infrastructure to train workers simply isn’t keeping pace.
The CEO points out that mastering certain automotive skills isn’t quick or simple. “Learning how to pull a diesel engine out of a Super Duty truck isn’t something you learn overnight,” he said. “It can take five years or more to learn these skills, and our current education system just isn’t preparing people for them.”
Trade schools, he argues, have dwindled in availability and investment. “We are not investing in training the next generation of people like my grandfather—people who started with very little but built stable middle-class lives through skilled work.”
Not All Doom and Gloom—Gen Z Shows Promise
There are signs of hope. Many young people are turning away from the traditional four-year college route, concerned about student loan debt and attracted to the strong salaries in hands-on careers. Enrollment in vocational and technical programs surged 16% last year, reaching its highest point since tracking began in 2018, according to data from the National Student Clearinghouse.
However, a separate study from the job platform Ladders notes that the highest-paying jobs—those exceeding $200,000—still typically require advanced degrees, which continues to influence workforce trends.
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