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- Ford CEO Jim Farley said he asked his high school-aged son to get a summer job as a welder."If he turns out to be the greatest welder or a mechanic… I will be so thrilled," Farley said.Ford is partnering with the Aspen Institute to find ways to accelerate the blue-collar economy.
When it came to finding his 17-year-old son Jameson something to do between school years, Ford CEO Jim Farley took a somewhat unusual tack compared with other multi-millionaire executives.
"I made sure that he had a summer job where he learned how to weld," Farley said in a recently published interview with the "Decoder" podcast. "He learned how to fabricate, he learned how to really work with his hands and relate to people.
Farley said the experience gives his son a choice.
"If he turns out to be the greatest welder or a mechanic working on our super duty diesel engines, I will be so thrilled as a parent," he added.
The comments come as the Detroit automaker has ramped up initiatives to address the large and growing shortage of workers in the skilled trades and related fields. Farley calls the domain the "essential economy."
This week, Ford hosted a CEO summit in Detroit to discuss ways leaders can invest in improving the productivity of these sectors.
"We don't have enough people to support our society when things go wrong," he said, referring to firefighters, EMTs, plumbers, electricians, service technicians, factory workers, and more.
In terms of economic impact, the essential economy represents $7.5 trillion of US GDP and 52 million jobs, according to research published in June by the Aspen Institute, which has partnered with Ford on this issue.
Looking closer at the demand for automotive technicians, trade group Tech Force estimated the US needs more than 100,000 new jobs a year to satisfy new demand and replace workers leaving the industry.
In sending his kid off to be a welder (for a few months, at least), Farley says he's hoping to counter a cultural shift that has unfairly devalued blue-collar workers and overemphasized those with elite college degrees.
"Our parents and grandparents made our country wonderful because of these kinds of jobs, and there's incredible dignity in emergency services," he said. "But our society doesn't celebrate those people like they do the latest engineer for AI."
Farley also said an overreliance on tech jobs amid shortages of skilled trades workers could put the US in a vulnerable position regarding national defense, when essential supplies must be made and moved around the country.
"We get into war somewhere, Google is not going to make the boots, but Ford will," he said.
