Ford chief executive Jim Farley and the Alliance for America’s Skilled Trades have highlighted a major retention problem facing the US skilled trades sector, with fewer than half of apprentices completing their training and only 29% still working in a trade five years later.
The figures come as employers are expected to need about 1.7 million skilled trades workers every year through 2035. Training programmes are currently preparing roughly 55 people for every 100 jobs expected to become available.
Farley has argued that college is treated as the default route for young people. “The air we breathe is a four-year degree,” he said, calling for greater recognition of vocational careers.
However, research commissioned by Ford for the Ad Council indicates that persuading young people to consider the trades may not be the main obstacle. Some 71% of teenagers said they would be proud to pursue a skilled trade, while 81% of parents said they would be proud if their child did so.
Why skilled trades apprenticeships are being abandoned
The gap appears after people enrol. Of every 100 people who begin an apprenticeship, only 48 complete it, according to a report from the alliance, which Ford launched with Google, BlackRock and Carhartt.
Practical pressures can make training difficult to sustain. Apprentices may face transport costs, lengthy journeys to classes and childcare expenses, while earning relatively little during the training period.
In some occupations, workers also carry costs that employers previously covered. Auto technicians, for example, may be paid a fixed rate for each repair regardless of how long it takes and may have to buy their own tools. New technicians who work more slowly while learning can therefore absorb the financial loss.
Ford has invested in helping trades students get to class, addressing one of the barriers that can prevent them from completing their programmes.
The report argues that employers have a central role in improving retention, including by paying people while they learn, covering the tools required for the job and ensuring that the work offers a living wage.
Training designed with employers
Experience from automotive training programmes in Mexico and South Africa suggests that completion rates improve when courses are developed with the employers who will ultimately hire the students.
In Mexico, automakers, suppliers and coatings companies helped design technical courses in automotive painting, tool and die manufacturing and automation. The courses were introduced across 28 campuses in the State of Mexico’s technical college system.
An evaluation of graduates from two of those courses found that 82% were employed within five to six months. The approach combined technical teaching with mentoring, career guidance and a clear route into employment.
The report also warns that training must reflect the jobs being created now. Courses based on outdated versions of an occupation can leave graduates unprepared for work or unable to remain in it.
When electric vehicle manufacturing expanded in Mexico, training providers worked with the National Auto Parts Industry Association to identify the skills required for new roles and develop courses around them.
The alliance’s next step should be to publish completion and five-year retention rates for the programmes it funds or runs, the report argues. Its members should also work with public technical colleges on course content rather than creating separate schemes.
With DEWALT and Milwaukee Tool among the alliance’s newest members, tool manufacturers are now involved in the initiative. The central challenge, however, remains ensuring that young people who choose the trades can complete their training and stay in the workforce.
