Mike Rowe, the host of “Dirty Jobs,” has raised concerns about a potential labor shortage in the manufacturing sector should President Donald Trump’s tariff policies succeed in bringing jobs back to the United States.
Speaking on Theo Von’s podcast, “This Past Weekend,” Rowe highlighted the existing difficulty in filling manufacturing positions, suggesting a significant challenge if the industry expands.
Rowe pointed to data indicating a substantial number of unfilled manufacturing jobs.
“In January, there were 482,000 open positions in manufacturing in this country,” he stated. “If Trump gets his way and this all gets reinvigorated, you’re talking about 2 or 3 million new jobs, but there’s no workforce sitting there going, ‘this is what I want to do.’ They’re not prepared. There’s a skilled gap for sure, but there’s also a will gap.”
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Rows argued that the problem extends beyond a lack of skilled workers. He believes a cultural shift is necessary, as many young adults are not interested in blue-collar work.
“The bigger issue still is there’s no enthusiasm for the work,” Rowe explained. “We took shop class out of high school, we robbed kids of the opportunity to even see what that kind of work even looks like and then we told a whole generation of kids that they’re fricken screwed if they didn’t get a four-year degree.”
Rowe also noted the concerning statistic of 6.8 million able-bodied men not actively seeking employment, further exacerbating the potential labor shortage.
His comments come as President Trump implements reciprocal tariffs, aiming to incentivize companies to relocate manufacturing jobs back to the U.S.
While the manufacturing industry has seen recovery since the COVID-19 pandemic, with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce reporting 622,000 open jobs as of January 2024, the skilled labor shortage remains a significant hurdle.
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Rowe believes that addressing the labor shortage requires more than just policy changes. “Something, beyond the tariffs, something beyond policy is gonna have to happen to make 22-year-olds go ‘yeah man, I would consider doing that,'” he said.
He suggests a need for a broader cultural shift to revalue blue-collar work and expose young people to the opportunities it offers.
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