Ford (NYSE:F | F Price Prediction) CEO Jim Farley appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box to promote the second annual Ford Pro Accelerate summit, focused on the shortage of skilled tradespeople. His argument: the obstacle is cultural. “We have to change the image of skilled-trade jobs as less valuable than college degrees,” Farley said.
Farley detailed the problem: “We need 1.6 million to 2 million skilled trades in this country every year that we do not have. So in the last 12 months, the problem has gotten bigger.” These figures come from a CEO promoting his company’s event and lack independent government verification.
Farley’s Own Customers Are Running Short of Workers
Farley tied the shortage to Ford’s buyers: “We have 60% market share in small and medium sized business across the U.S.” Ambulance operators, plumbers and electricians face a crisis. “25% of the workforce is going to retire soon, and they do not have the resources Ford Motor does to solve this problem.”
Ford sells work trucks and vans to tradespeople. Fewer tradespeople means fewer buyers. Ford Pro generated $14.7 billion of revenue and $1.69 billion of EBIT at an 11.4% margin in Q1, with paid software subscriptions growing 30% YoY to 879,000. Farley calls Ford Pro “the cornerstone of our global business.”
A Got Milk Style Pitch for Trade Careers
Farley’s remedy is marketing: “We’re going to start an Ad Council advertising campaign like Got Milk to really raise the awareness of skilled trades and what great jobs these are.” Ford is partnering with NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and BlackRock (NYSE:BLK). No budget, launch date or reach was disclosed.
Dycom’s Backlog Shows the Demand Is Already Signed
Dycom (NYSE:DY) chief executive Dan Peyovich appeared alongside Farley: “We have thousands of electricians.” Dan Peyovich added, “We already have over 21,000 people nationwide, but that’s not even close to what we’re going to need, if you look two or three or four years out.” That headcount covers all Dycom people nationwide.
The proven signal is backlog. Dycom carries total backlog exceeding $12 billion against a market capitalization of $8,094,910,790. That backlog represents signed work with revenue visibility. On Dycom’s August 26, 2026 call, Peyovich said “electricians are still in short demand” and “there are still projects that we are turning away because it takes a while to get those resources ramped up and trained.”
What to Watch as the Campaign Takes Shape
Farley frames the problem as image. Peyovich describes demand already signed and speeding up. Training capacity sets the pace, and an awareness campaign moves too slowly to supply the electricians data center contracts need now. Watch Dycom’s Georgia training facility, on track to open in the first half of calendar 2027, whether Peyovich keeps reporting turned-away work, and whether Ford discloses specific campaign details alongside Ford Pro results.