Ford CEO Jim Farley says the United States is facing a serious shortage of workers who can perform hands on, technically demanding jobs. Speaking on the Office Hours: Business Edition podcast, Farley revealed that Ford currently has 5,000 open mechanic positions that remain unfilled even with salaries around $120,000, according to Fortune.
Farley said the company’s struggle is part of a broader nationwide shortage affecting jobs that require manual skills and technical training. Emergency services, trucking, plumbing, electrical work and factory positions are all facing major hiring gaps. “We are in trouble in our country. We are not talking about this enough,” Farley said, noting that more than one million critical jobs remain open.
Even as the government tries to bring more manufacturing back to the United States, the number of people willing and trained to take such jobs has not kept pace. More than 400,000 manufacturing roles were unfilled as of August, based on preliminary numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A 2024 survey by the Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte also found that over half of companies listed worker recruitment and retention as their biggest challenge.
Farley pointed out that trade and factory jobs once formed the backbone of the American middle class. His own grandfather, employee number 389 at Ford and a worker on the Model T, built a stable life through that work. Farley said Ford has made progress on pay, eliminating its lowest wage tier and agreeing to a 25 percent raise over four years in its 2023 agreement with the United Auto Workers union.
Still, he believes the labor shortage is rooted in a lack of training and education. Learning to remove a diesel engine from a Ford Super Duty truck, for example, can take five years of experience. “We do not have trade schools,” Farley said. “We are not investing in educating a next generation of people like my grandfather who had nothing, who built a middle class life and a future for his family.”
There are signs that younger workers may be helping fill the gap. Gen Z is increasingly turning away from four year colleges and toward trade programs as a way to avoid student debt while earning solid wages. Vocational school enrollment rose 16 percent last year, the highest level since tracking began in 2018.
Yet the broader workforce shortage remains severe, and Farley says companies like Ford cannot meet demand without a renewed national focus on skilled labor training.
