CEO is offering $120,000 jobs sitting empty that 'no American wants to do'
A CEO of a major US company is offering six figure salaries for thousands of jobs which are currently sitting vacant.
Given the ongoing cost of living crisis currently impacting countries around the world, the idea of making $120,000 (£89,368) a year you'd think would be a role people would be queueing out of the door for an opportunity at.
And yet, one major company in the US has a shortfall of 5,000 positions, which is surprising when you consider that the average US salary is $66,622, a significant improvement on the average UK salary which stands at £38,100.
So, what's the catch?
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Apparently, a shortfall in workers trained in certain skill sets, according to Ford CEO Jim Farley.
"We are in trouble in our country. We are not talking about this enough," Farely said in an interview with the podcast Office Hours: Business Edition last November.
Farely used his own company as an example, saying Ford had an estimated 5,000 mechanic positions at the time the podcast was published, each of which was advertising a salary of $120,000.
Describing several Ford dealerships across the country as having a 'bay with a lift and tools and no one to work in it', Farley said he believed the shortfall was down to a lack of people receiving the training needed to fulfil such positions.
Explaining that it often takes around five years for a person to learn the skills necessary to complete the mechanical tasks required by his company, Farley said the country wasn't training enough people to take up the roles.
"We are not investing in educating a next generation of people like my grandfather who had nothing, who built a middle-class life and a future for his family," he added.
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Farley said the automotive industry wasn't the only job sector currently dealing with a shortfall in skilled labour, adding that the US was facing a shortfall in industries such as 'critical jobs, emergency services, trucking, factory workers, plumbers, electricians and tradesmen'.
His comments echo a previous report published by Forbes, which revealed that skilled trade sectors - such as electricians, plumbers and welders - are in high demand. The outlet estimated that 345,000 new trade jobs could be created in the US between 2027 and 2028.
The apparent rise in demand for trade works stands in contrast to concerns about a jobs shortfall in the wake of artificial intelligence advancements, with a previous report from the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) suggesting that sectors such as sectors such as customer service, machine operations and admin could vanish in the future.
Which means it might be time for all of us to pick a trade and get to work.
Brenna Cooper