FOX Business host Mike Rowe sounded alarm bells on the nationwide blue-collar worker shortage, warning there are significant national security implications for the country if American-made production plummets as a result of the scarcity.
The “How America Works” host discussed his concern stemming from the trade worker shortage and how it relates to national security and the country’s debt during the “Brian Kilmeade Show” on Thursday, highlighting the importance of domestic production and a “balanced workforce.”
“The more immediate mathematical problem revolves around the numbers five and two,” Rowe told Brian Kilmeade on Thursday. “Every year, for every five tradespeople who retire, two people replace them. This has been going on for about 18 years, and the math has become so critical and so under-reported. You can’t find a single major corporation today who relies to some degree on skilled labor [that] isn’t struggling to hire.”
“I sound like a broken record with this, but Brian… not a week goes by [when] I don’t talk to a big organization who is quietly saying, ‘we don’t know how this is going to come out,'” he continued.
Rowe, an outspoken advocate for young people entering blue-collar lines of work, argued it is “scary” that there are not enough tradespeople entering the labor force at the rate they are currently needed.
Although enrollment in vocational community colleges is up 16% since 2018, according to a January 2024 National Student Clearinghouse report, it is still not enough to overturn the scarcity as younger generations contemplate turning toward trades.
Read more here from Fox Business.
