Why People Aren't Lining Up for This $120,000 Job
4/16/202622 min
The automotive industry is facing a shortage of mechanics. Ford Chief Executive Jim Farley has said his company’s dealerships have 5,000 open jobs – positions he says can pay up to $120,000 a year. WSJ’s Christopher Otts explains why more people aren’t taking him up on it. Ryan Knutson hosts.
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsRyan Knutson· Host0:03
[music playing] There's a problem in the auto industry. There are not enough mechanics. The CEO of Ford, Jim Farley, has been outspoken about it.
Jim Farley· Soundbite0:15
It's a very serious thing. Our-- We do not have trade schools. We are not investing in educating a next generation. Um- This is Farley on a podcast late last year. Those jobs are out there, mechanics in a Ford dealership. As of this morning, we had five thousand openings, a bay with a lift, and tools, and no one to work in it.
Ryan Knutson· Host0:38
Farley says that after five years, a mechanic working at a Ford dealership will have enough experience to make $120,000 a year. Yet for some reason, not enough people want to do it. According to a trade group, there's an annual shortage of thirty-seven thousand mechanics across the industry. Here's our colleague, Chris Otts.
Christopher Otts1:01
Farley's comment gave the impression, or at least some people interpreted it this way, that, wow, hundred and twenty thousand dollar jobs, and we just don't have enough people who went to trade school and know how to turn wrenches? What is wrong with our country? You know, it was like almost like this moralistic reaction.
Jim Farley· Soundbite1:26
With the government, with education- Mm-hmm