Hype vs. Reality: Tesla Cybertruck, The Lexus RX Gets it Right, Talent Gap in the Service Bay, and The Moment Ambition Paused

A truck might look ready for tomorrow but still miss today. We start with the Tesla Cybertruck at two years old—viral videos, slipping sales, and a price story that shifted from the initial promise. Predictions assumed a plant operating near full capacity, but the reality of high fixed EV costs, recalls, and a poor fit for traditional truck buyers adds up quickly. While most pickups are sold to those towing, hauling, and enduring winters in the heartland, a bulky urban status symbol struggles to justify its presence.

Next, we explore the quiet confidence of the 2025 Lexus RX 500h. The RX helped define the luxury crossover segment, and this model continues to demonstrate why: a 2.4-liter turbocharged gasoline engine, dual electric motors, a nickel-metal hydride hybrid battery pack, and a smooth six-speed transmission that remains stable and responsive. We appreciated comfort in every seat, intuitive controls, a genuine spare tire accessible from inside the vehicle, and the kind of everyday ease that makes you want to drive. It’s not perfect—awkward steering-wheel switches, a digital mirror that strains the eyes, and rear seats that don’t fold flat—but even with options costing in the $70,000 range, the value still feels genuine because the experience matches the price.

Next, we examine the talent gap hindering automotive service bays at car dealers nationwide. The National Automobile Dealers Association's (NADA) new apprenticeship program, developed with the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) and approved by the U.S. Department of Labor, offers paid training, mentor-led rotations, and a skills checklist that genuinely builds competence. It provides a lasting path into a high-demand career without debt—especially meaningful for rural communities looking to develop local talent as vehicles incorporate more software and electronics each year.

Finally, we examine the rise of “job hugging.” Hiring has slowed since 2022. AI screens resumes before humans review them. Employers have cut back on hiring incentives, bonuses, and employee perks while pushing harder for a return to days in the office. Ambitious workers are choosing to stay put, preferring steady paychecks over unpredictability. We discuss what this means for mobility, middle management, and anyone considering a leap: where risks are real, where niches still pay well, and how to time a move when confidence is low.

If this mix of hard data, real-driving impressions, and career advice helped you see things differently, tap follow, share the TechMobility Show with a friend, and leave a quick review. What would make you switch—your car, your job, or both?

Chapters

• 0:00 Opening & Episode Roadmap
• 1:22 Cybertruck Turns Two, Troubles Mount
• 9:30 Pricing, Recalls, And Use-Case Failures
• 10:06 Lexus RX History And Innovation
• 12:30 RX 500h Powertrain And Specs
• 16:25 On-Road Impressions And Comfort
• 19:30 Misses, Options, And Pricing
• 21:04 NADA’s Technician Apprenticeship Push
• 26:00 Why Trades Matter And How It Works
• 31:07 The Rise Of Job Hugging
• 37:00 AI, Hiring Walls, And Worker Anxiety
• 42:00 Staying Put Versus Risking A Move

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:07

Welcome to the Tech Mobility Podcast. Brought to you by Playbook Investors Network. Your strategic partner for unstoppable growth. Visit pincommunity.org to get started.

SPEAKER_04: 0:18

I'm Ken Chester. On the Docket, my impressions and review of the 2025 Lexus RX500H SUV. The NADA unveils an apprenticeship program. And welcome to the era of job hugging. To join the conversation, be it to ask a question, share an opinion, or even suggest an idea or topic for future discussion, call or text the Tech Mobility Hotline, that number 872-2229793, or you can email the show directly, talk at techmobility dot show. For those of you who enjoy Substack, you can find me at Ken C Iowa. That's K-E-N, the letter C, I O W A. I am a proud member of the Iowa Writers Collaborative. Plenty of amazing writers, authors, and journalists reside there. Check it out. From the Tech Mobility News Desk. I want to talk about the Cybertrack. Yeah, the Tesla Cybertrack. I want to talk about it. It's turning two. And right now they can't give them away. I mean, you've seen the videos, you've seen them getting stuck in the snow. You've seen them act a fool. You've seen them less than perfect. The challenge is that sometimes an individual gets wrapped up more on their own hype than the capability or what it is that they're representing or selling. This is the case of the Cybertruck. This thing, other than its looks, which you either love them or hate them, and most people do not like it. I got to see one up close a couple of years back at the Chicago Auto Show. Ironically, Tesla didn't bring it. The local Chicago dealer did. We got into it, and it was quick to find out all the many shortcomings that this truck had just relative to a regular pickup truck. And it was all the small stuff that was important if you're going to use this vehicle day in and day out. The cyber truck don't have it. Don't have it. I mean, from getting into it to just maneuvering around in it and what it has, what it doesn't, we're not even talking the lack of reliability. When it was introduced, the company CEO once described it as Tesla's best ever product. Needless to say, not so much. Not so much. All of last year, first year was out, total, less than 39,000 were sold in 2024. As of the end of October of this year, 17,317, that's it, a 42% drop compared to the same period in 2024. And let me tell you something, they were forecasting 250,000 of these. You've heard me talk about the economics of the automotive industry. So let me be real right here. In order for this truck to make any money, that plant was going to have to be running pretty close to capacity. And the average automobile assembly plant capacity is 250,000 units. Usually the accountants, the bean counters, everybody, bases, profit, loss, materials ordering, advertising, build rates, staffing, everything based on plant size and suspected and expected sales. Musk said when the truck went on sale, you could buy an entry-level model for thirty-nine thousand nine hundred dollars. Not true. The base truck does. And if you buy what they call the beast, the cyber beast, that's$115,000. That is Hummer by GMC money, which sells at$116,000. But GMC didn't make any pretense about it being affordable. They never told you that. And there's a reason. I've said this before, I'm going to say it again. High fixed cost. Bear in mind, this is an EV. That means everything is new. Your whole supplier network. And bear in mind, too, he didn't build this in Fremont where his plant was. He built a brand new plant in Texas. So you had that. That's a few billion dollars to start before you do anything. Plus, you had to train the workers, plus you had to build the infrastructure, plus you had to build parts, service, advertising, marketing. All of that had to go into what this truck was riding on. They would have been struggling to make a profit at full bore. If that plant was running at capacity, they might have had a chance in two or three years. Plant ain't even barely, not even, 20% capacity. They're bleeding, hemorrhaging money. It would be fine if the truck was reliable, but it's not. In July 2023, more than one million people reserved their spot in line for one of these trucks. Just because people reserved the space in line, it's obvious that follow-through was a little bit different. And again, part of that was the entry-level price. At 39.9, yeah, people would be willing a deal all day, but now you can't, like I said, give them away. By 2023, when the truck went out, now they said 39.9, but when it actually left the end of the line at the factory,$60,990 over$21,000 more. Oh, and you wanted all-wheel drive?$79.9. And then Tesla said they only sold a rear-wheel drive cyber truck for a handful of months after launching it, and even then that was$70,000.$70,000. That$115,000 the Cyberbeast cost, that's$15,000 more than they said it was going to cost. And oh yeah, since we're on the subject, let's talk recalls. There have been 10 recalls issued for the Cybertru since January 2024 for concerning various manufacturing issues. How do I say this? If you are in the upper Midwest, is this the truck you're gonna buy as your work truck for the farm? No. Is this the truck you're gonna buy to plow snow in? No. Is this the truck that you're gonna use to tow with? No. Most of full-size pickups get sold in the middle part of this great country of ours. Thousands of them. So where do they screw up? Well, the folks in the know industry veterans say that they describe the cyber truck and its futuristic design as, quote, a status symbol, unquote, designed for urban buyers. Well, here's a problem. That thing's awful big if you're gonna drive around the city, not to mention insurance costs, parking, you gotta charge it somewhere, which means typically if you're an urban driver, you're living in an apartment. That's another problem. It's not happening. Now, to be fair, when he came out with the Model 3 back in 2017, we laughed. I laughed, because I said, okay, you're gonna expect to build a half a million of these a year, and up till now, the first 14 years of your company, you hadn't built a hundred thousand of anything total. But he did. It would have been easy to imagine in the trucking world where between Chevy, Ford, GMC, and Ram and Toyota, and to a lesser extent Nissan, for how many ever units the Titan sells, you're looking at maybe two, two and a half million trucks. So to sell 10% of market? Doesn't sound that terrible, does it? But they can't do it. It's not useful, it's not viable, it had issues, and was horribly expensive, way more expensive than they were promised when it was launched. Although I bet right now you could probably buy one pretty cheap. But do you realize, just for the heck of it, Ford F-150 Lightning starts at 54,780. Think about that. Lexus continues to lead in luxury by offering motorous efficiency, luxury, and performance with the RX500H. You are listening to the Tech Mobility Show.

SPEAKER_02: 10:20

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SPEAKER_01: 10:51

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SPEAKER_04: 11:24

To learn more about the Tech Mobility Show, start by visiting our website. I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. The website is a treasure trove of information about me and the show, as well as where to find it on the radio across the country. Keep up with the happenings of the Tech Mobility Show by visiting Techmobility.show. You can also drop us a line at talk at Techmobility.show.

SPEAKER_02: 11:50

Every great business starts with a spark, but taking it to the next level takes strategy, connections, and capital. That's where Playbook Investors Network comes in. We're your strategic partner for accelerating growth, navigating challenges, and capturing market opportunities before your competition does. Your business is more than an idea. Let's make it an impact. Playbook Investors Network. Your future starts here. Learn more at pincommunity.org.

SPEAKER_03: 12:32

Lexus has developed a headlight that actually rotates up to 15 degrees to reveal what's around the bend before you get to the bend. What kind of a difference can 15 degrees make? A very noticeable one.

SPEAKER_04: 12:53

Thank you, Preston Tucker. I'll explain. That TV commercial was for the Lexus RX, the 2005 Lexus RX. It pictures a driver in the deep dark woods at night, two-lane road, coming around a corner. What those lights illuminated in time was a deer and the little fawn. That he was able to stop because he was able to see them. So as Lexus pulls at your purse at your heartstrings, oh, the little fawn and its mom. That did Lexus say because the driver was able to see it and he stopped, which is exactly what they want you. But fun fact, Preston Tucker had developed a three headlights of which the middle one turned with the steering wheel in 1948. 1948. That's why I said, thank you, Preston Tucker. We call that adaptive front lighting, is what it's called. And now many vehicles have it. But it was novel in 2005 on a production car, on a luxury car. First introduced to the world in 1998, the Lexus RX combined the best attributes of a luxury car, a station wagon, and an SUV. Regarded to be the first luxury crossover SUV in the market, the automaker presented a production-ready concept at the 1997 Chicago Auto Show, featuring high ground clearance and an elevated seating position. Unlike the other truck-based SUVs at the time, the RX rode on a car-based platform without the heavy body-on-frame architecture. The five-door RX grew from a compact to a mid-sized vehicle by the debut of the second generation in 2003. Along with the introduction of the second generation came the distinction of the being the first Lexus to be manufactured outside of Japan with the opening of the Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada plant in Cambridge, Ontario. Assembly of the RX hybrid models were added in 2013, some 10 years later. The fifth and current generation of the Lexus RX premiered in May of 2022. Available in four models, the RX boasts both gasoline and gasoline hybrid variants. The base RX350 is available in front and all-wheel drive and is a gasoline version. The hybrid variants are only available in all-wheel drive. My impressions for the sake of this review are the RX 500H F-Sport Performance model, which is the next top of the line. The powertrain of the RX 500H consists of a 2.4-liter four-cylinder gasoline turbo, two electric motors, one on each axle, and a nickel metal hydride battery pack. The hybrid system produces a combined 366 horsepower and 406 foot pounds of torque. Energy is communicated to all four wheels via a six-speed direct automatic transmission with paddle shifters. EPA fuel economy numbers are 27 city, 28 highway. Cargo capacity is 46.2 cubic feet. Towing capacity is 3,500 pounds. So here's what I like about the RX 500H. And I start with a relevant question. How much fun can you have at the wheel of a vehicle at speed? I feel that the RX has always been the rock star of the Lexus fleet. And I remember driving my first RX hybrid back in 2006. I loaded my family and I drove from Des Moines to Lincoln, Nebraska, and there from Lansing, Kansas, same evening, same trip. Then as now, the RX hybrid delivered smooth, fluid, and very responsive performance that was and still is driver inspiring. The driver becomes one with the machine. For 2025, the combination of the hybrid powertrain and F-sport capabilities makes this experience even more enjoyable. The five-passenger luxury crossover SUV provides comfortable seating in all positions. The driver enjoys a good outward view of the road. Displays, switches, and switch gear are easy to see and use. Head-up display adds to the ease of operation. Rear seat passengers enjoy plenty of legroom and can be coddled even more by ordering the optional heated and cooled rear seats. There are plenty of USB ports, front and rear. And oh yeah, the spare tire is located in a well under the cargo area, accessible from inside the vehicle. And you know how I feel about that. So, what didn't I like about the RX 500H? Number one, no retained accessory power. Number two, the multi-function switches on the steering wheel are a bit wonky. They're gonna take some getting used to. And I absolutely, positively do not like, and this was optional, the digital rear view mirror. Save your money. It hurt my eyes. I just can't. It's no. Anytime that is, I turn the thing off. In a rare miss for the make, I thought, the power folding rear seats do not fold flat with the cargo floor. And I'm thinking, Lexus, you know, the pursuit of perfection. Guys, you missed this? Really? It's important. Trust me, if you've ever had an SUV and you've used the cargo area, having a flat floor matters. Particularly when you're folding down those seats for the extra space. And then finally, there does not seem to be a rake adjustment for the seatback. It seemed kind of upright to me, and I didn't recall that I could adjust the rake to something a little more tolerable. So here's the bottom line, far as I'm concerned. The Lexus RX 500H is solid, quiet, responsive, and fast. A joy to drive and a driver-centric ride for sure. While it has a few things off worth mentioning, it's still a favorite for me anytime I can get the opportunity to get behind the wheel. And the challenge for Lexus is getting it back for me when my week is up. Good luck. The base manufacturer suggested retail price for the 2025 Lexus RX 500H F Sport all wheel drive luxury crossover SUV, that's a mouthful, starts from$64,800. Destination charges. Add$1,350. And I gotta tell you, for the value that you get in this thing, that is a steal.$64,800 for everything that you get? Oh yeah. Money well worth it. Very quickly, because vehicle is tested. My$500H had a lot of equipment, a lot of extra cost equipment. 120 volt AC outlet, convenience package, heated and ventilated rear upboard seats, triple beam LED headlamps, Mark Levinson premium audio system, power rear door with kick sensor, premium exterior paint, technology package, carpet cargo mat, illuminated door seals, and side puddle lamps, mud guards, and rear bumper applique. Total cost for the options,$8,645. And that brought the value of the vehicle, believe it or not, came to just over$70,000. In fact, I'll tell you,$74,795. The National Automobile Dealers Association has launched a new apprenticeship program for expiring young technicians. This is the Tech Mobility Show.

SPEAKER_02: 21:23

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SPEAKER_04: 21:52

Did you know that Tech Mobility has a YouTube channel? Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. Each week, I upload a few short videos of some of the hot topics that I cover during my weekly radio program. I've designed these videos to be informative and entertaining. It's another way to keep up on current mobility and technology news and information. Be sure to watch, like, and subscribe to my channel. That's the Tech Mobility Show on YouTube. Check it out. Auto dealers have been fighting the battle of attracting and retaining experienced automotive service technicians for years. I remember having breakfast with a GM executive about 25 years ago here in Des Moines who was almost pleading with me to spread the word about available training that the automaker was underwriting at a local community college near me. Shouldn't be rocket science. Plenty of training, support, and pretty much assured job security for as long as you want to work. Recently, the National Automobile Dealers Association has entered the fray by offering dealerships an easy-to-develop apprenticeship program for automotive service technicians, which, by the way, will include training for electric vehicles. This is topic B. Let me give you the numbers. In the United States of America, right now, working as mechanics and auto service technicians at automobile dealers across our great country are between 750 to 800,000 technicians. The NADA estimates that the auto industry will need to add about 76,000 technicians a year to resolve the employment shortfall caused mainly by departing retirees, overall industry growth, and technicians who leave for other careers. Basically 10% a year, 10% turnover.$76,000. They contend that right now schools and training areas right now generate about 30, about 40,000 of that need. So they're coming up about 36,000 short. And I don't really get it. I mean, right now, if you are a service technician at an automobile dealership, you're earning in the vicinity of about 60 grand plus a year. Plus, you usually get allowances for your tools, your work clothes, other vacation and bonus and things like that. It's a good living. And it's a lot less physical than it used to be. Because right now you're looking at electronics. Vehicles are more and more electronics, so it's more of a head thing and knowing what to do. Being mechanical helps, but also having a good mind helps too. But the money's there. The money is there. So what the NADA did, they teamed up with the ASE Education Foundation, which is the automotive service uh um executive program that certifies ASC certified, you've heard that term. They've linked together to design a program that dealers can actually administer. They call it apprenticeship in a box. Literally a turnkey apprenticeship system at the dealer level. Here's the beautiful thing about it. Apprentice candidates, well, let me back up. The program is designed primarily for high school or technical or vocational school students. Apprentice candidates must be at least 17 years old and have completed at least an 11th grade education or earned a high school equivalently diploma or GD GED, if you will. Here is a chance without having to go into debt to make an excellent living, get the training, and if you're at the dealer level, you're at the dealer anyway. Here's a chance to slide right into a profession that will make you good money for many years, even as the industry changes. And here's something that they didn't add in the piece. The automakers have training that is specific to their brand and models that these technicians will be doing. Some of this training will take them to the automakers' facilities. Sometimes you can do it right there at the dealership. So it's every bit of continuing education. It's not one and done. And in fact, this program that the NADA is advocating requires these apprentices to competently perform 197 different tasks three times to a satisfactory level in order to pass. They got to rotate through through the shop. They're not just going to be doing quick lube oil changes. You're going to rotate them through the shop. They're going to get a chance to deal with everything. And more importantly, this program requires the dealership to assign experienced mentors to the apprentices no more than two apprentices per mentor. And they advocate that the mentors should be compensated accordingly to make up for any wages they lose from turning fewer flat rate pay hours because of the time-consuming demands of mentoring. In other words, if I take time off the shop floor to mentor another, then I should not be penalized financially for helping somebody uh learn their trade. And I completely agree. I think we're getting to a stage at Mao more than ever, knowing how to do pays every well as having the theory behind it. Somebody once said that, you know, during the pandemic, when things were bad, they didn't, and you had a need, you didn't call an English major. You didn't call a psych major. If you had a problem with the electric power in your home, you called an electrician. If you had plumbing problems, you called a plumber. If your heating and air conditioning went out, you called a heating and air conditioning professional. These are men and women who have gone to technical school, learned a trade, and are proficient in the trade, and they're always going to be needed. And trust me, AI ain't gonna replace them no time soon. No time soon. And we've covered stories like that here. But for some reason, the auto industry has had this shortage. It's been chronic for quite a while. Didn't just start. But the beautiful part, on top of doing it at a dealership, which may not be working with the local schools, or you are a distant from a technical or vocational school, the program is approved and licensed by the U.S. Department of Labor. That means there is government money available for a dealership to institute these programs to help train our young people to be service technicians. The dealership doesn't have to specifically carry the load on their own. There is money. And the NADA will help the dealership work through that so they can qualify for it and get their program up and running. And if you're in rural America like we are, and you may be miles from a vocational technical school, and you may not have a high school that has these types of programs, this is an excellent chance for folk who may decide that college isn't what they want to do, to give them a good local training. They don't have to go away to school, which means if you live in a rural party, you live on the farm, then it means you're still around to help, and it adds value for the entire community. I think it's a brilliant idea. And they're launching a few, but I would love to see this come to the upper Midwest, and particularly Iowa. Keeps the kids close to home and it provides money in that community so that they have a choice, they have an option, rather have them move away to make their money. And I think that is totally, totally awesome. And I wanted to share this with you. Um, yeah, they developed it about 18 months ago and they're rolling it out gradually. And I hope to see this roll out nationwide. Because this is the kind of approach that we need in this day and time, and more industries need to do it because this is how our country was built in the first place. People learning a trade, people learning a skill. The great resignation is old news. Welcome to the era of job hugging. We are the tech mobility show.

SPEAKER_01: 31:19

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SPEAKER_04: 31:51

To learn more about the Tech Mobility Show, start by visiting our website. Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. The website is a treasure trove of information about me and the show, as well as where to find it on the radio across the country. Keep up with the happenings at the Tech Mobility Show by visiting Techmobility.show. That's Techmobility.show. You can also drop us a line at talk at Techmobility.show.

SPEAKER_02: 32:22

In business, opportunity doesn't wait, and neither should you. At Playbook Investors Network, we connect visionary entrepreneurs with the strategies, resources, and capital they need to win. Whether you're launching, scaling, or reimagining your business, our network turns ambition into measurable success. Your vision deserves more than a plan. It deserves a playbook that works. Playbook Investors Network, where bold ideas meet bold results. Visit pincommunity.org today.

SPEAKER_04: 32:53

Did you know that Tech Mobility has a YouTube channel? Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. Each week, I upload a few short videos of some of the hot topics that I cover during my weekly radio program. I've designed these videos to be informative and entertaining. It's another way to keep up on current mobility and technology news and information. Be sure to watch, like, and subscribe to my channel. That's the Tech Mobility Show on YouTube. Check it out. They are ambitious, motivated, and want to make a career move, but they've decided to stay put. It seems that with the amount of uncertainty currently in the economy, that those who would consider making a job move have decided not to. It's the latest manifestation of the post-pandemic job market that continues to be different in ways that require a new approach. This is topic C. We've talked about the great resignation. We've talked about quiet quitting. We've talked about performative job uh work. Excuse me. Now let's talk about job hugging. It's unfortunate that the power, if you will, that employees had in the marketplace evaporated so quickly. There was a moment. We had a moment through the pandemic, the other side of the pandemic, where companies were looking to add people, companies were looking to pay a premium to get quality folk. But like anything else, the tide has turned again. Companies are cutting back. Companies aren't paying that kind of money. Companies are making people come to the office. And people who are confronted with the quality of life that they discovered during the pandemic versus you want me to do what? Five days a week again and pay all this money, folks are making decisions. For some folks, those folks that decide that quality of life is more important are finding themselves without a job. But if you're in this world right now where you're looking at uh slowing job growth, the fact that, yeah, I'm in a job that got me started, but I really want to move up. And you're going, gee, is now really the right time? It seems that the economy is a little sluggish. Employers are not as willing to add to payrolls, and you've got this new wall between you and any future employer called AI. Let me explain. We've talked about this. So let me explain how this figures. Used to be back in the day, you would send a resume and you would be considered by an actual human being, would look at the resume, make some decisions, and you get a you would get an interview. Today, you could be sending in a resume, and they never even knew you applied because they fed it to their upfront AI system, which will make decisions of whether or not you're even worthy of being interviewed, let alone even make the interview. So you got that, a machine technology that you can't game or you can't influence, and you don't know what the rules are. Also, to the fact that if you're in a low-paying job now, you're looking one eye over your shoulder, going, Well, um I'm in a job that AI could replace me, but I need this experience to make the next level. Or if I'm just coming out of college now and I'm in some job and I want to go to work in this particular profession, they're eliminating the jobs that people like me would do fresh out of college with AI, and I can't jump from where I am now two levels up because I don't have that experience or that knowledge. Job hugging. What we're seeing now is the people who could are saying, you know what? Better to have a job where I am less than thrilled, but it has a paycheck, than to jump into the deep and maybe end up unemployed or worse. People are all a little nervous and unsure where the economy is headed, and that's a big deal. But those that follow this kind of stuff say that this round of work-related anxiety runs deeper and reflects several big shifts all playing out at once. Federal policy upending key local industries such as healthcare and higher education, the threat of AI, and companies reasserting their authority after a burst of worker activism during the pandemic. From a peak in March 2022, companies have slowed their hiring over the past three years. They're also not as willing to pony up big salaries to recruit workers as they did during the pandemic. And against that backdrop, workers are increasingly willing to earn less to stay employed. In other words, I am tamping down my expectations in order to keep my job. Because I'm not sure that if I take a stand and I need to go, that I can land on my feet somewhere else and do better, or at the very worst, do the same. A re-emphasis on in-person work, we mentioned that earlier, is also limiting the talent pool as people who don't want to move for a position only then to be the first to be let go. In other words, you make the move, you get there, and you don't make it six months because the company's cutting back. The qualms, folks are fearful to make a remove right now, are being felt throughout industries as evidenced by survey after survey that phones a workforce that's beset with stress. If you are stressed about your future, the last thing you're gonna do in an uneven economy is jump out there thinking you're gonna land okay. Now it's possible to do that if you have certain very special skills, or you are in a niche industry where people with your skill set are numbered and still in demand. Or if you're in an industry that you know that at least in the near future AI is not gonna displace you, then there's room to do that. But more and more, as AI is infused into every aspect of our lives in almost every industry, that's getting harder, particularly at the low end. And for some industries, middle management. Because being middle management used to be a guarantee. Well, you know, no matter how much automation happens, I'm gonna have a job because of what I know and my experience with this company and my skill set. Not necessarily true. Anymore. And that is the problem. A new Associated Press NORC Center for Public Affairs research poll found that 47% of US adults are not very or not at all confident that they could find a good job. A good job. Then imagine a good job? If they wanted to, up from 37% in October 2023. In other words, what if I leave and I can't even equal the amount of money that my current job is paying me because the other jobs that are out there pay less, or they're not hiring, or they'll get back to you, or that particular position was eliminated by AI or just cutting back because they're trying to deal with the current uncertainty. It's called job hugging. And people are electing bright people who would otherwise move on and move up, are choosing to stay put because having a recurring paycheck in a job that they do not love is better than trying to get a job they love that they may not get at all at any price. And that is where we are. That is where we are. And unfortunately, as long as people stay in those jobs, it doesn't make room for other people coming into the workforce who would take those jobs behind them. That upward flow is being interrupted for so many reasons. Hence the hugging.

SPEAKER_02: 41:53

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SPEAKER_04: 42:22

To learn more about the Tech Mobility Show, start by visiting our website. I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. The website is a treasure trove of information about me and the show, as well as where to find it on the radio across the country. Keep up with the happenings at the Tech Mobility Show by visiting Techmobility.show. You can also drop us a line at talk at Techmobility.show.

SPEAKER_01: 42:48

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SPEAKER_02: 43:21

You've got the drive. Because in business, standing still is not an option. Playbook Investors Network, fueling ambition, delivering results. Visit pincommunity.org.