Ford CEO Jim Farley laments he can’t fill 5,000 mechanic jobs

[daftandbarmy]

A familiar theme, unfortunately...

Ford CEO Jim Farley laments he can’t fill 5,000 mechanic jobs paying $120K per year: ‘We are in trouble in our country’​

Ford has been unable to fill some 5,000 openings for mechanics despite offering a salary of $120,000 a year — prompting the company’s chief executive to warn of a dire shortage of skilled tradespeople in the US.

“We are in trouble in our country. We are not talking about this enough,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said on an episode of the “Office Hours: Business Edition” podcast published earlier this week.

“We have over a million openings in critical jobs, emergency services, trucking, factory workers, plumbers, electricians and tradesmen.”

It takes about five years to learn the skills needed to pull a diesel engine out of a Ford Super Duty truck — and the country isn’t training enough people to do it, Farley said.

“We do not have trade schools,” he fumed.

Earlier this year, Ford rolled out a $4 million initiative to fund scholarships for auto technicians.

“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,” Farley said.

Ford CEO Jim Farley laments he can’t fill 5,000 mechanic jobs paying $120K per year: ‘We are in trouble in our country’

“We are in trouble in our country. We are not talking about this enough,” Ford CEO Jim Farley told the “Office Hours: Business Edition” podcast.

nypost.com

 

[dapaterson]

Corporations that refuse to pay taxes to support the education system and refuse to train workers shocked to find that they can't find workers with the skillsets they need.

 

[Kirkhill]

Corporations that refuse to pay taxes to support the education system and refuse to train workers shocked to find that they can't find workers with the skillsets they need.

I can think of a fair few other miscreants than just the corporate types.

Unions that supported seniority over merit, that bargained for higher wages for senior employees rather than employing more youngsters at lower wages as apprentices.

High School counsellors and parents that valued university over trades, often due to perceptions of prestige and connections rather than education.

Governments that did what those parents asked and promoted those diploma mills.

Except in medicine, of course, where the government had to pay all the bills and decided to limit the number of trainees and licences.

Governments that turned out lawyers and accountants, HR managers and bureaucrats - people more at home with rule books and saying "No, you can't" because that is a damsight easier than figuring out how you can.

 

[Halifax Tar]

Corporations that refuse to pay taxes to support the education system and refuse to train workers shocked to find that they can't find workers with the skillsets they need.

A quick use of AI and google shows me Ford pays taxes. Its up to the different levels of Gov to divvy those tax contributions up, no ?

 

[mariomike]

Unions that supported seniority over merit, that bargained for higher wages for senior employees rather than employing more youngsters at lower wages as apprentices.

I was only in one. It was nothing that.

 

[Eaglelord17]

I can think of a fair few other miscreants than just the corporate types.

Unions that supported seniority over merit, that bargained for higher wages for senior employees rather than employing more youngsters at lower wages as apprentices.

High School counsellors and parents that valued university over trades, often due to perceptions of prestige and connections rather than education.

Governments that did what those parents asked and promoted those diploma mills.

Except in medicine, of course, where the government had to pay all the bills and decided to limit the number of trainees and licences.

Governments that turned out lawyers and accountants, HR managers and bureaucrats - people more at home with rule books and saying "No, you can't" because that is a damsight easier than figuring out how you can.

Unions love apprenticeships, it is companies who don’t.

The companies more or less stopped training apprentices in the 80s as it was cheaper and easier to just hire a skilled tradesperson from elsewhere. Add in Europe sending skilled tradespeople here as the jobs were drying up in Europe at the same time period (how my family actually got here) and we have the problem of today.

Lots of people would take a apprenticeship today if given the chance. The issues are companies don’t want to hire and train them, and when they do they have such high educational requirements they are basically expecting a mostly trained worker to start.