Sunday, January 29, 2006

US auto industry

Brad DeLong highlights the WSJ article about restructuring at Fords

Covering the Economy: Employment and Layoffs: Ford: " Ford plans for the future: WSJ.com - Ford Will Shed 28% of Workers In North America : By JEFFREY MCCRACKEN and JOSEPH B. WHITE Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL January 24, 2006; Page A1: DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. has made it official: Detroit is ditching its business model of the 1990s, and the cost now totals more than 60,000 jobs at Ford and rival General Motors Corp. Ford yesterday announced plans to close 14 North American factories, including seven assembly plants, and slash up to 34,000 North American jobs over the next six years. About a month ago, GM rolled out plans to cut almost as many jobs by 2010. Both companies will emerge from these retrenchments smaller, slugging it out in a crowded U.S. auto market.

However, the report also indicates that there are as many US auto jobs as there were in 1990. It is just that they are now jobs at foreign car plants.

Businessweek reports on the booming auto industry in AlabamaThe Alabama Surprise

This highlights the way that poor decisions and the burden of pension and healthcare costs are dragging the traditional US industry down. Does it matter?

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