Ford CEO says upcoming event will address skilled trades gap

Ford looks to address the skilled trades gap in its second “ACCELERATE the Essential Economy” event next week, according to a web post by Ford President and CEO Jim Farley. 

The event will be held Sept. 30 and can be streamed live by subscribing here. 

“For decades, we told a generation of American kids there was exactly one respectable way to build a life: sit in a college classroom for four more years after high school, take on the debt, get the degree,” Farley writes. “It was a good story. It just wasn’t a complete one. And the bill for that incompleteness is now coming due.”

Farley estimates 2.1 million skilled trade jobs may go unfilled by 2030. He adds this opens a hole in the economy that keeps the lights on, water running, and roads passable. 

“We’ve taken to calling this the Essential Economy, because that is what it is: essential,” Farley says. “And it is straining.”

Ford held the first ACCELRATE event last year, bringing together business leaders, educators and policyholders in Detroit to look at the strain. Farley writes that this year’s event will be bigger and has a year of evidence. 

“The instinct, when a problem is this large, is to wait for someone else to solve it — Washington, the school board, the market,” Farley writes. “We rejected that instinct a year ago, and I’ll reject it again now. No single company, school or government fixes a gap this size alone.”

Since the first event, the Alliance for America’s Skill Trades was founded with BlackRock, Google and Carhartt to build job pipelines and launch a skilled trades report. 

Ford also partnered with Bloomberg Philanthropies to modernize and expand Detroit Public Schools’ auto tech program with a pilot model that could be replicated in other cities. 

Farley says Ford also teamed up with Lyft to provide transportation support for SkillsUSA students to access training and apprenticeships. 

New research with the Ad Council Research Institute is also helping to understand how students, parents, and teachers view the skilled trades today, Farley writes. 

“What we found should trouble anyone who cares about this country’s future,” Farley says. 

He adds that the survey found about one-third of teenagers believe a career in the trades is “respected.” He adds that students drawn to the work often can’t find a clear first step or they’re gently and persistently redirected toward the four-year path. 

“We haven’t just underinvested in the trades,” Farley writes. “We’ve told several generations of capable kids, in ways large and small, that this work is a fallback rather than a calling. That’s the deeper problem year two of ACCELERATE has to confront.” 

Next week’s event will bring together tradespeople, CEOs, mayors, small business owners, and civic leaders, Farley writes. 

The event will review full results from “The State of America’s Skilled Trades,” a national report developed by Jobs for the Future and Burning Glass Institute in partnership with the Alliance for America’s Skilled Trades. Farley says the report establishes a national benchmark to track the workforce and understand what it will take to build capacity for the future. 

Farley writes the study found that for every 100 skilled trades workers needed, training programs are producing 55 people. 

New members will join the Alliance for America’s Skilled Trades and will use the national report to align action, Farley says. 

Conversations will include a range of leaders, government, and media, including: 

• • Larry Fink, BlackRock chairman and CEO
  • Linda Hubbard, president and CEO of Carhartt
  • Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Alphabet and Google
  • Mike Rowe, skilled trades advocate
  • Lexi the Electrician, essential economy worker 
  • Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield
  • Poppy Harlow, journalist
  • Joanna Stern, journalist

The Ad Council will lead a national social impact program and a new certified pre-owned program for commercial trucks and vans will be announced. 

“None of this closes a 2.1-million-job gap by itself,” Farley writes. “What it does is give the country a shared set of facts, a growing movement, and a public conversation starting next week about what we owe the people who build, wire, weld and repair the physical world the rest of us depend on.”

Farley isn’t the only automaker CEO discussing the shortage of skilled trades recently. 

GM CEO Mary Barra recently discussed a workforce shortage on Fortune’s “Titans and Disruptors of Industry” podcast. She said high school students shouldn’t overlook blue-collar jobs, which could offer more protection from AI than some white-collar paths. 

“[We need to] really make sure high school students understand this is a great career and frankly maybe a little more AI-proof than some others,” Fortune reports Barra saying.

She added that a technician could make $80,000 to $90,000. 

Barra said GM has invested about $200 billion over the past year to grow and modernize high-demand skilled trades as well as advanced manufacturing, engineering, and technician roles.

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Photos courtesy of Ford.