Ford to Hold Off on Hiring For Entry Level Jobs
America’s automobile industry is consistently declining, and one large automaker is planning to hold off on hiring any new entry level job employees until 2009.
Ford Motor Co. recently announced it will not hire employees for entry level jobs, lower wage positions or hourly positions until next year, according to an article by Reuters. The hiring freeze will most likely affect many people looking for Michigan jobs.
The company also plans to eliminate all its hourly workers who have accepted buyout offers by the end of the year.
“Ford is offering plant-by-plant buyouts to hourly workers,” the article notes. “The company has not said how many total employees it would like to trim through the buyout offers. Ford previously had made companywide buyout offers to trim thousands of blue-collar jobs in North America. It has cut its U.S. hourly workforce by about 40,000 over the past three years to roughly 54,000.”
The auto industry as a whole has been declining as of late, mostly due to high gas prices, and is hurting Michigan’s economy. In July 2008, the state saw an unemployment rate of 8.5 percent, the highest in the nation, and a considerable amount higher than the national unemployment rate of 5.7 percent. Michigan had a total non-farm employment of 4,212,500 in July 2008, according to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, a decrease of 1.1 percent from last year.
Detroit, which serves as the center of the nation’s auto industry, has been hit the hardest. The city saw an unemployment rate of 10.9 percent in July 2008, and had a total non-farm employment of 748,100, a decrease of 1.7 percent from last year.
“The auto industry will be a part of reviving Michigan’s economy, as it continues an evolution that recognizes innovation, research and development as its core advantage,” according to the Grand Rapids Press. “But as Michigan’s prime industry retools and adjusts, the state must also be in hot pursuit of industries Michigan is uniquely positioned to ferment-some in areas Ms. (Mayor Jennifer) Granholm and lawmakers have already identified, such as alternative energy and biotechnology.
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