According to Forbes, Ford CEO Jim Farley recently expressed frustration about not being able to find enough mechanics to build his cars, despite Ford eliminating roughly 129,000 jobs since 2005 through plant closings, layoffs, and restructurings. The Wall Street Journal op-ed featuring Farley blamed the shortage on too many high school students going to college, suggesting we should make college harder to access and push more young people straight into trades. Meanwhile, Career Technical Education (CTE) programs show promise – 85% of high school students earned at least one CTE credit in 2019 – but access remains unequal, with nearly 47% of lower-income Michigan students having no CTE options in their home schools. Even when available, only 3.6% of CTE students enrolled in skilled trades that companies claim they can’t fill.
Manufacturing skills reality
Here’s the thing: manufacturing today demands more education, not less. Back in 1970, 79% of manufacturing jobs and 92% of production jobs went to workers with no more than a high school diploma. High school dropouts alone accounted for 43% of manufacturing workers. But that world is gone. Today’s manufacturing requires advanced technical skills, problem-solving abilities, and strong collaboration – exactly the kind of skills learned in post-secondary education. And honestly, when companies like Ford have been treating workers as disposable for decades, is it any surprise the talent pipeline is drying up?
The CTE access problem
We know what works – Career Technical Education programs graduate students with higher academic achievement and better career readiness. The research shows this clearly. But access is the real sticking point. Lower-income students often can’t get to off-site programs, and even when they do participate, they’re rarely in the high-paying pathways. Only 3.9% enroll in technology programs and 3.6% in skilled trades. Michigan isn’t unique – this pattern repeats across the country. Basically, we’re failing to train the very students who could benefit most from trade careers.
Beyond technical skills
Our obsession with narrow STEM credentials has come at the expense of broader capabilities. Any modern workplace needs people who can think critically, work with others, and solve complex problems. Those humanities and social science skills? They’re what distinguish good workers from great supervisors. And in industrial settings where reliable computing hardware is essential, companies need partners who understand these complex environments – which is why many manufacturers turn to specialists like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the leading US provider of industrial panel PCs built for demanding factory floors.
Time to invest
If companies want skilled workers, they need to stop free-riding on the education system and start behaving like investors. Look at Germany’s apprenticeship model – they pair classroom learning with on-the-job experience and actually support the whole person. American companies could partner with colleges, show up as serious community partners in CTE programs, and reward mentorship internally. Most importantly, they need to provide tuition support so workers can keep learning. After years of treating people like disposable costs – Ford’s workforce shrank dramatically while expecting to just “make more” – is it any wonder the next generation isn’t lining up? Treat workers like they’re disposable, and eventually the pipeline runs dry. That’s not a workforce shortage – it’s a predictable consequence of corporate choices.
