In a thought-provoking tweet, Anand Mahindra warned that while much of the world fears artificial intelligence will eliminate white-collar jobs, a more pressing crisis is quietly unfolding: “the scarcity of skilled trades”. The Mahindra Group chairman cited insights from Ford CEO Jim Farley to illustrate the growing gap in essential manual and technical work.
“We’re Missing a Far Bigger Crisis”: Trades in Short Supply
Mahindra quoted Farley’s revelation from a recent podcast. “Ford has 5,000 mechanic jobs unfilled, many paying $120,000 a year, and still no takers. Across the U.S., over a million essential roles in plumbing, electrical work, trucking and factory operations lie vacant. This isn’t the future. It’s happening now.”
He noted that decades of societal emphasis on degrees and desk jobs have pushed skilled trades to the bottom of the “aspirational” ladder. Yet these jobs remain immune to AI disruption, demanding judgment, dexterity, apprenticeship, and real-world expertise.
A Silent Revolution Through Skill Scarcity
Mahindra asked whether society might soon rethink what constitutes a “dream career”, “So the real question is: Are we about to witness a reset in what society considers a dream career? Because if this trend continues, the biggest winners of the AI era will be the people who can actually build, fix, and keep the world running.”
He concluded by framing the trend as a unique form of societal change, saying, “Marx imagined workers rising through struggle. He never imagined they’d rise because they became too skilled, too scarce, and too essential to replace! A revolution not through violence… but through value-discovery.”
Mahindra’s post has sparked debate on the importance of vocational skills and the role of trades in the AI-driven economy, emphasizing that expertise in essential services could become more valuable than ever.
One user said, “Funny how we assumed AI’s biggest impact would be layoffs in offices when the real shock is happening in workshops and factories. Not because jobs are disappearing but because people abandoned them. Society glamorised screens and sidelined skills. Now every unfilled mechanic role feels like a plot twist. A reversal of decades of advice. The future belongs to builders again. People who can fix things you cannot automate. It almost feels poetic. The world drifting back toward hands and craft. Remember this shift. It is bigger than it looks.”
Another added, AI will reshape white-collar fields, but the trades are facing a supply shock of human talent. Society didn’t price in how valuable real-world expertise is. We might be entering an era where blue-collar becomes the new gold-collar.”