There's a problem in the auto industry.

There are not enough mechanics.

The CEO of Ford, Jim Farley, has been outspoken about it.

It's a very serious thing.

We do not have trade schools.

We are not investing in educating a next

generation. This is Farley on a podcast late last year. Those jobs are out there. Mechanics and a Ford

dealership. As of this morning, we had 5,000 openings, a bay with a lift and tools and no one to work in it.

Farley says that after 5 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 37,000 mechanics across the industry.

Here's our colleague Chris Odds.

Farley's comment gave the impression, or at least some people interpreted it this way, that wow wow, $120,000 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's like almost like this moralistic reaction. With the government, with education, I think we can solve this, but we have a lot of work to do.

But our colleague Chris says that when you actually look at what the job entails,

it is not hard to understand why there is a shortage of automotive technicians when you drill

into it and understand what it takes to be able to do this job. So I really wanted to help people

understand why this profession can be so lucrative,

but how hard and tenuous it is to get there.

Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power.

I'm Ryan Knudsen. It's Thursday, April 16th.

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