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Six thousand empty work bays at one company alone. That is not a staffing issue. That is a systemic collapse.
Across the broader economy, the situation is even more dire. The United States is short hundreds of thousands of welders, machinists, electricians, and builders. Projections show the deficit will surge into the millions within a few years if nothing changes. According to Rowe, the retirement wave mixed with a shrinking pipeline of replacements has created a dangerous imbalance.
“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.”
While America Struggles, China Is Racing Ahead
While America wonders where its workers went, China is not wasting a single moment. Farley revealed what he witnessed overseas, and the picture was chilling.
“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.”
He did not mince words.
“We are in a war for manufacturing now globally. When I went to China, I came back with a completely different perspective. They want every one of our jobs in our place.”
China is already the world’s largest manufacturing powerhouse, and it is projected to dominate nearly half of all global industrial output by the end of the decade. The United States, meanwhile, is expected to fall to a distant second.
The Real Reason America Cannot Fill These Jobs
Rowe has been warning about the root cause for years. Instead of steering young Americans toward trades that provide solid careers, the culture pushed everyone toward four-year degrees and away from hands-on skills.
“We took shop class out of high school and convinced a whole generation they needed a four-year degree to succeed no matter the cost. That was a big mistake.”
The fallout has been catastrophic. Rowe points to millions of working-age men who have simply opted out of the workforce entirely.
6.8 million able-bodied men between ages 25 to 54 are not just unemployed but “affirmatively not looking for work.”
He emphasized that this is historic.
“That’s never happened in peacetime.”
America’s Security Is Now on the Line
The cracks in the skilled labor foundation are already hurting national priorities. Projects backed by the CHIPS Act cannot hire enough qualified electricians and technicians to build critical semiconductor facilities. More than one out of every five manufacturing plants in the country is operating under capacity. Delays and shortages are causing massive economic losses that could exceed one trillion dollars within the decade.
Rowe sums it up plainly.
“You can’t find a single major corporation today who relies to some degree on skilled labor [that] isn’t struggling to hire.”
The Stakes Could Not Be Higher
America cannot remain a world leader if it cannot produce what it needs. China knows this. China is acting on this. America is debating it.
Rowe calls the current decline a long and slow burn, one that will take years to reverse even with strong leadership. But with China sprinting ahead and millions of American jobs going unfilled, the country does not have years to waste.
If the United States does not rebuild its workforce in the trades, it risks becoming dependent on a nation that openly wants to replace us as the world’s industrial engine. The alarm is ringing now. The question is whether America will answer it.
