University of Kentucky Endowed Chair of Economics Ken Troske said the just announced Ford automotive investment in the Commonwealth affirms a blue-collar economic identity. Ford has announced plans to build two battery plants in Hardin County, employing up to 5000 people.
While comparisons may be made to Toyota coming to Scott County in the 1980’s, Troske said there are differences. The economics professor noted Toyota had built cars in other places. “We’re doing something new in a place we’ve built cars before, so presumably Ford’s familiar with the Kentucky infrastructure, but this is changing how we’re doing. And it’s a guess on how we’re going to do it in the future and it’s still at that point, pretty much a guess,” said Troske.
In addition to the technology questions to power cars, Troske said electric vehicles today represent a very small percentage of the overall fleet of cars on the road. Troske said this week’s announcement doesn’t signal a change in Kentucky’s economy. He added it's in line with the state’s existing automotive focus that includes Toyota. “These jobs are blue-collar manufacturing jobs. They’re making things. There’s nothing wrong with a blue-collar manufacturing job, that’s fantastic. But, they don’t require a college education to do that and I don’t think that’s what they’re talking about employing. In that way, it’s very similar to what Toyota did. That’s what we are, we are a blue-collar manufacturing state,” explained Troske.
Troske said the Ford investment will result in supplier type jobs as well. While there is high demand for workers currently, Troske doesn’t expect a lack of workers to be an issue when production begins at the battery plants. That’s projected to start in 2025.
