Fresh Profile: Automotive Manufacturing Jobs

Published on 2008-05-12

The American automotive industry has suffered a long, slow decline since its heyday in the mid-1950s. The Big Three - General Motors, Ford and Chrysler - have nearly been overtaken by the Big One, namely Toyota. GM retains the title of "World's Largest Automaker," but just barely. In 2007, GM sold only 3,000 more cars than Toyota - a mere .0003 percent victory on sales of 9,369,524 vehicles.

The number of automotive manufacturing jobs in the U.S. has also experienced a much publicized decline, from over 1.3 million in 2000 to 1.1 million in 2006. In February of this year, GM announced that it would offer a buyout or early retirement to each of its 74,000 workers represented by the United Auto Workers; Ford and Chrysler negotiated somewhat similar agreements with the UAW in 2007.

But not all the automotive employment news is bad. Toyota, Volkswagen, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, and Nissan have all increased their presence in the U.S., often via billion-dollar plants for which states throughout the country have vigorously competed, particularly in the South. Michigan, the home of the Big Three and still the iconic source of American automotive industry jobs, is likely to be surpassed as the largest North American auto builder by Alabama in 2009.

According to the Alabama Automotive Manufacturers Association, the number of automotive manufacturing jobs in Alabama has increased by 80% since 2001, and the state is home to nearly 300 plants. Many of these are small facilities (fewer than 100 employees) specializing in automotive parts, but close to 500,000 cars were manufactured in Alabama in 2005. Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Hyundai and Toyota all have a strong presence in the state.

Motor vehicle and parts manufacturing has also become an important creator of Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee jobs. Nissan has several plants in Tennessee, and billion-dollar plants were opened over the past few years by Toyota in Mississippi and Kia in Georgia.

Most of the automotive jobs that come available when plants are opened (or moved from another state) are in assembly and production. Competition can be extremely high, and the focus on team assembly and cross-training requires that workers have a strong technical background, i.e. manufacturing experience or a two or four-year degree. Assembly plants can also create a large number of manufacturing engineering jobs. These professionals are responsible for planning and engineering both the vehicle assembly process (safety procedures, machine and line rates, layout, etc.) and the parts used to make the automobiles. Additional employees involved in the auto manufacturing process include supervisors/managers, machinists, tool and die makers, inspectors, etc.

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