Booming Sales Put Detroit Automakers on Hiring Spree

Detroit seems to be having auto sales pick up tempo so swiftly that employers are hard pressed to find skilled employees. Sounds like a joke? It might, but it is true nevertheless. While the nation may not have jobs, people are buying cars so fast that thousands of workers are being recruited by Detroit automakers. That’s good news, surely.

According to industry sources, the sales surge is so steep that the existing resource network in Detroit may fall short leading to increase in prices of auto parts. Though auto makers are adding thousands of workers in stark contrast to the pit of the recession, the fear is around that the workers added now may become excess if and when the boom passes.

Last week NASDAQ economists also forecast a growth in the economy, which they said was not part of a structured process but a part of cyclical growth. If that is true, then the boom is going to pass. But who cares, today we have jobs, and that’s what counts in a community ravaged by the recession.

From 2005 onwards, GM, Ford and Chrysler closed 28 factories and reduced the cumulative workforce by 88,000 jobs. Another 234000 jobs were lost from small and medium sized auto parts manufacturers.

If as expected, sales reach 15 million vehicles by 2015, then the three Detroit automakers would be forced to hire at least 20,000 more people.  There is already talk in the market that sales can reach 14 million vehicles this year.

The carmakers have started adding shifts and set to hiring across the country.  Though even the thousands of new recruits apparently seem to show the good side of the economy, the employers are very reticent in hiring more than absolutely necessary. But there is only so much you can squeeze out of an employee.

Jim Tetreault, vice president of North America manufacturing said Ford is “squeezing every last component, transmission, engine out of the existing brick and mortar.”

But the return of workers to carmaker factories justifies the federal bailout of the industry including that of General Motors and Chrysler in 2008 and 2009.

It’s some news to be happy about after a long time – only this time it’s an employer’s market and they know that every employee out there who have gone through the recession is dead scared of losing a job again.