![\"Mike](\"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Mike_Rowe.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Mike Rowe: \u201cWe\u2019ve been telling kids for 15 years to learn to code.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, AI is coming for the coders.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not coming for the welders, the plumbers, the steamfitters, the pipefitters, the HVAC, or the electricians.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Aspen, I sat and listened to Larry Fink say we need 500,000 electricians in the next couple of years\u2014not hyperbole.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe BlueForge Alliance, who oversees our maritime industrial base\u2014that\u2019s 15,000 individual companies who are collectively charged with building and delivering nuclear-powered subs to the Navy \u2026 calls and says, we\u2019re having a hell of a time finding tradespeople. Can you help?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, I don\u2019t know, man \u2026 how many do you need? He says, 140,000.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are our submarines. Things go hypersonic, a little sideways with China, Taiwan, our aircraft carriers are no longer the point of the spear. They\u2019re vulnerable.\u201d \u201cOur submarines matter, and these guys have a pinch point because they can\u2019t find welders and electricians to get them built.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe automotive industry needs 80,000 collision repair and technicians.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEnergy, I don\u2019t even know what the number is, I hear 300,000, I hear 500,000.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a clear and present freakout going on right now. I\u2019ve heard from six governors in the last six months. I\u2019ve heard from the heads of major companies.\u201d<\/p>\n