As U.S. manufacturers scramble to fill hundreds of thousands of open jobs, China is doubling down on its bid to become the world’s workshop, and industry experts say the stakes couldn’t be higher.
“If I had one of those big red bells in a fire department, I’d hit it with a hammer. I’d ring the alarm. This is it,” Mike Rowe, CEO of the mikeroweWorks Foundation, warned Sunday on “One Nation with Brian Kilmeade.”
Rowe warned of what he sees as an existential threat to America’s manufacturing base, pointing to a growing gap between open skilled trade jobs and the number of workers entering those fields.
Ford CEO Jim Farley echoed the concern, warning the U.S. is “in a war for manufacturing” as China rapidly expands its industrial capacity.
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“We have about 400,000 people that we need,” Farley said.
“At Ford this morning, we had 6,000 stalls open with no mechanics in them to fix our vehicles.”
The jobs are getting more complex and require greater technical skill and innovation, he added — a challenge a major company like Ford can likely overcome. But serious problems remain for smaller businesses.
“The plumber and electrician that owns our super duty. What are they going to do if they don’t have the resources at Ford? They’re barely getting through the day with a lot of red tape,” he said.
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“For them to try to find the next generation, as Mike said, it’s really hard, and we have to help them. Companies like Ford have to have help. We have a lot more work to do as a whole industry.”
But while American companies struggle to find workers, Farley said, China isn’t waiting around.
During the pandemic, he noted, China made “huge leaps and bounds” in manufacturing, emerging from COVID-19 stronger and more determined to dominate global production.
“I go to China regularly…” Farley said. “They want to be the heavy manufacturing source for the world. They now have twice as many car plants as their local market can absorb. They want to export all of that to create these great jobs.”
“We are in a war for manufacturing now globally…” he continued.
“When I went to China, I came back with a completely different perspective. They want every one of our jobs in our place.”
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