Larry Summers praises the concept of the essential economy of the CEO of Ford, because it did not “fetish manufacturing”

In the middle of the fear that AI eliminates large strips of white collars, Farley has highlighted shortages in the professions of blue passes, which puts the unsatisfied need for around 1 million jobs, because many American schools, families and political decision -makers have neglected the essential economy.

He even revealed recently that his son was working as a mechanic this summer and questions the need to go to university.

In a recent interview on Bloomberg TV’s Wall Street WeekSummers noted that Farley is not obsessed with a rigid notion of blue passes.

“I think that the concept of Mr. Farley is very good, and this represents a very important difference from a very fashionable idea, that is to say to fetishize manufacturing,” he said. “And by widening the concept to repair and movement as well as doing things, I think it becomes a more plausible and more inclusive concept.”

Indeed, the share of American labor in manufacturing peaked at 38.9% in 1943, while the economy in wartime launched arms and equipment without stopping, and has been in constant decrease since then.

At the end of 2024, this share was only 8% while the United States moved to more focus on services, while productivity gains, automation and globalization reduced the number of national factory workers in decades.

These job losses have devastated regional economies, creating a political reaction that helped send Donald Trump to the White House and launching a trade war, designed in part to bring more production to the United States

Meanwhile, the technological boom pushed more Americans to go to collage to learn the development and engineering of software, although some of these professions are now threatened by AI.

“I think we have lost sight of our accent on higher education, our entire accent on science and technology,” said Summers. “Everything that is extremely deep that has happened with the economy of knowledge with bits and bytes – this work that people do with their hands is crucial for the means of subsistence of tens of millions of Americans.”

During the Aspen Ideas Festival this summer, Farley said that the United States spends too little on vocational training, which is also more focused on 1950 than 2050, contributing to a drop in the productivity of blue collars.

At the same time, the demand for skilled trades should increase, and even the AI ​​boom will force workers to build and serve the facilities that provide all the necessary IT capacity.

“There is more in a way towards the American dream, but our entire education system focuses on four -year education (college),” said Farley. “Hiring a worker entry into a technology company has dropped 50% since 2019. Is it really where we want all our children? Artificial intelligence will literally replace half of all white collars in the United States ”

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