Jim Farley is right about Gen Z and blue-collar work. We see firsthand how the industry is failing them
Source: Fortune ·
At the International Youth Foundation, we've spent over a decade building automotive talent pipelines in Mexico and South Africa and One lesson holds up.
From the source
Ford CEO Jim Farley recently said “the air we breathe is a four-year degree.” In other words, college is the default path we steer every kid toward. He’s right, and he deserves credit for pushing back on it. Ford has even commissioned Ad Council research on how students, parents, and teachers see the trades. The Alliance for America’s Skilled Trades, which Ford launched with Google, BlackRock, and Carhartt, just released a detailed new look at what the country needs. The headline most outlets ran with is that employers will have to fill about 1.7 million skilled trades openings every year through 2035. Training programs are preparing roughly 55 people for every 100 of those jobs. But the number that stopped me was further down in the report. Much of the public conversation has focused on persuasion, and this number suggests that isn’t where the biggest gap is. Seventy-one percent of teens say they would be proud to pursue a skilled trade, and 81% of parents would be proud if their…