Speaking on the Office Hours: Business Edition podcast, Farley said Ford had 5,000 open mechanic positions that it hasn’t been able to fill, despite an eye-popping $120,000 salary—nearly double the American worker’s median salary.

 

And it’s not just Ford, added Farley. The carmaker’s struggle to fill jobs that require training and manual labor are indicative of a general shortage for manual-labor jobs in the U.S., he added.There were more than 400,000 manufacturing jobs open as of August, according to preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, despite a 4.3% unemployment rate, which is higher than in previous years. A 2024 study from the Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte also found more than half of the 200 manufacturing firms surveyed said recruiting and retaining workers was their top struggle.