A fresh controversy has erupted after Tesla CEO Elon Musk commented on Ford CEO Jim Farley’s warning that the company is struggling to fill 5,000 mechanic positions, each offering an annual salary of $120,000. Responding to Farley, Musk wrote on X, “America has a major shortage of people who can do challenging physical work or who even wish to train to do so.”
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Social media erupts
Many users accused Musk of undermining American workers, arguing that the problem is not a lack of talent but a lack of opportunities and apprenticeships. One user shared a detailed response, “My 22-year-old son has been begging for this kind of work for months. He’s finishing trade school, applied for hundreds of jobs, even Walmart, and still can’t get an interview. He is intelligent, hardworking—there’s a breakdown somewhere.”
Another user wrote, “First they came for white-collar work. Now they’re repeating the same lies about blue-collar workers.” A third added, “America has the world’s best military that comes from our people — but suddenly in corporate America, it’s ‘no one wants to work.’ Then wages get depressed and foreign labor is brought in.”
The H-1B debate
The backlash is happening at a time when the US is already divided over the H-1B visa program. President Donald Trump recently stated that the US “needs specific talent from foreign nations,” suggesting that his administration would not end the H-1B program. Meanwhile, Trump’s policy imposing a $100,000 fee on companies hiring foreign workers has added more confusion, leaving industries unsure of how the administration intends to handle the program.