You read that right: Ford Motor Company, for the first time since perhaps 1937, employs more hourly American workers in its factories than General Motors. Ford has been hiring an average of 10 union workers per day since 2011, according to Automotive News.
Granted, a substantially larger quantity of Ford’s production occurs within US factories, including (notably) the F-150 full-size pickup, which itself recently compelled the automaker to create 1,550 new factory jobs. In percentage terms, 78 percent of Ford’s North American production took place in US factories last year, vs. 61 percent for General Motors. The ratio likely becomes even more skewed when other continents are taken into account.
Still, Ford Motor Company employs about 50,703 factory workers here in the US (as of February 1st), compared to GM’s 50,300 or so. Said General Motors Spokesman Bill Grotz, “It’s all market-driven. We build to market demand. The head count hasn’t fluctuated that much over the past few years, but we’ve invested a lot of money in our operations.”
Or about $11 billion since 2009, if it interests you.
Comments
Aaron here you go again.
Having more employees is not a good thing in most cases. If you are building a comparable number of cars or less you do not want to employ more people. Because if you have more employees you have higher operation cost and higher operation cost means you are often doing something wrong.
Now in this case if it is all bases on the fact Ford has more US production then it is all meaning less and may even point to higher production cost because of it.
As the norm you have swung and missed on a automotive story. If you are as you claim a real automotive enthusiast you would have understood this from the start.
Even then you are only talking an estimated 400 people which is a shift at one plant at best.
You really should have been a writer for Seinfeld as this is a story that really is a bout nothing.
Note I found the story useless before I read who wrote it just to let you know I do not prejudge.
Note that at no point during the article did I express anything resembling an opinion or a take on the news. I think you’re projecting a bit here, sir.
So what value is this story?
Please elaberate the purpose and the intended meaning of this story.
And don’t say to show FORD has more workers.
I don’t believe Aaron is attempting to pick sides here. You’re losing sight of the motivation for this story.
Do you not care where your money goes? Do you not care that american manufacturing in far too many sectors has been stripped away to nothing.
I understand more employees cost more money, but if you’re spending money on employees why not make every attempt to spend it on American employees. For example all crew cab Silverado and Sierra models are made in Mexico. Double cabs and reg cabs in the US. Wouldn’t it be nice if ALL silverados and sierras were made in the US?
I think that is the underlying message here. I like Canadians (my brother lives there), I like Mexicans (I have in-laws that are 100%); however I would still prefer that the stuff I’m buying is made in America with a sky high US parts content.
Jacob let Aaron explain what his purpose of this story was.
While I am buy American as you can get I also have a full understanding that any more it is more reliant where the money comes back to than where the car is built much anymore.
More and More MFG is coming back here due to the fact the UAW has show a willingness to work with the MFG’s today and if they continue they will continue to be rewarded and will see bonuses like we saw this year.
The whole point is Aaron has a history of poor stories and this one really has little clear point. If it comes down to you explaining it then that is a sign the story is just not well thought out or has a real point.
There is enough crap on the internet that we do not need any more to add to it.
The fact is cars are now global as cars built in Mexico and Canada have many parts from the states. Hell my Chevy was assembled in Mexico with a American drive line and large American content. But even things like the Horn were made in the USA but by a company from Italy. So really trying to make a full car nationalistic is difficult in todays market.
As for plants we are now competitive and we will see more production. But you can not count it all by the number of people employed. Todays lines are using much more modern technology to build cars you can not associate the number of people employed as a mark of nationalism.
But on the other hand the number of people and hours it takes to make a car is counted buy those who value stock. You take to many hours and have too many people assembling cars in the market vs. others it drives up cost to build cars. This in turn hurts profits and hurts stock values that put you at risk of low stock prices and even activist share holders.
Jacob I appreciate your noble efforts but this is a big picture economic this and a story here from a writer who needs to do his home work and post stories that have clear meaning. I could not project what he meant as he did not really make a valid point to anything here.
I encourage you and others to read his past stories and see how he has not always been well prepared to write on the topics he choses. My hope the criticism will make him better but that is up to him. Better to here it from a nobody on the web than from a boss later on. The media has enough poor writers today and we do not need another.
…and no bankruptcy. No handouts. Paying back loans. GM is now the world’s 6th largest automaker. Quite the fall.
GM’s taking billions of bailout money that’ll never be repaid and then having FEWER American workers than Ford is certainly something worth mentioning.
If you mooch here, then you should spend it here.
sam, how do you get 6th?
pr this aticle they are still 3rd behnd toyota and VW.
http://www.autoblog.com/2015/01/22/toyota-worlds-largest-automaker-report/
aaron, can you do a vehicles built in US/hourly employees for both GM and ford (and throw in Toyota for good measure)
this would give an indication of manufacturing efficiences. I would do it but i am away from my computer.
i wonder if the 3rd shift at the canyon plant is included in those numbers?
aand when tthe “bolt” starts up later this year there will be a bunch more GM employees.
Sam you must of forgot about Ford taking 5.9 billion from the department of energy in 2009 and I don’t think it has been paid back, so make sure you include that when your spouting off about handouts
And how many plants did Ford close in the late 90’s like 30%. May have the date wrong but I remember it was on the news almost every night for a long time.
Once upon a time, GM had thousands more employees than Ford so this is a shift, regardless of reasons why.
The era of “what’s good for GM is good for America” isn’t so much the case any more unless we look at the entire industry as a whole.
This article should look at North America, as a whole, though, because NAFTA makes up our entire economic zone.