So far, so good for Illinois auto jobs
Monday, Dec 10, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* This is one reason why Illinois’ manufacturing economy badly lagged Michigan and Indiana post-crash…
The nearly 181,000 jobs in Michigan tied to the auto industry constitute 19 percent of the nation’s total, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Indiana has the second-most auto jobs, heavily concentrated in recreational vehicles. Illinois ranks No. 8, with about 13,000 jobs building chassis or bodies and 23,600 making auto parts.
Michigan and Indiana are the dominant players in the auto industry and both states lost a whole lot of jobs during the economic crash during the final years of the previous decade. But when auto sales rebounded, so did their state economies.
* But while other states are now reeling from GM’s recently announced layoffs, the same article has some good news for Illinois…
That popularity [of the Ford Explorer] means the 5,400 employees at Ford’s plants on Torrence Avenue and in Chicago Heights can breathe easier, at least a little, even as GM announces up to five plant closures and Ford transfers 1,150 workers in Michigan and Kentucky to build better-selling models. The same is true in Belvidere, near Rockford, where 5,300 Fiat Chrysler workers pump out the Jeep Cherokee, another model with solid sales. […]
The question is whether, when the Taurus disappears, anyone at the Torrence Avenue plant will even notice. The facility is operating at 150 percent capacity, running above and beyond the two shifts that equal normal production. The Explorer placed among the 10 best-selling light trucks for the first 10 months of the year, with 218,805 purchased nationwide. […]
The Jeep Cherokee also sells well. Fiat Chrysler sold 198,341 of the model in the first 10 months of the year, a 48 percent increase over the year-earlier period.
- Not a Billionaire - Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 10:16 am:
We may have more ago related jobs under the primary metal and fabricated metal catagories. Those sometimes are hard to follow through the process. Most of the jobs we have lost over the last decades have been in those categories and machknery. Most of the jobs lost to China have been in the electrica! Equipment catagory. I suspect mostly household alliances.
- Not a Billionaire - Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 10:17 am:
The Ford plant can be seen in the Where workers work report. Transportation equipment in South side.
- Not a Billionaire - Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 10:20 am:
Our jobs lost to China appear to be in electrical appliances in the latest Economic Policy Institute report.
- wordslinger - Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 10:31 am:
That was quite a deal for Illinois that the UAW negotiated with Ford to spend $1 billion to modernize and expand its South Side plants.
I’m sure Gov. Rauner’s proclamation of thanks just got lost in the mail. Still time to send another one, jefe.
For the Econ. 101 scholar-lecturers who believe the state “economy” is controlled by Springfield, here’s a lesson:
Mitsubishi in B-N closed because no one wanted to buy its POS cars.
The South Side and Belvidere auto plants are rocking because people do.
- Pot calling kettle - Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 10:44 am:
==For the Econ. 101 scholar-lecturers==
Lesson 2: Popularity of vehicles rises and falls with the price of gasoline. The risk is that if gasoline prices jump up, sales of now-popular, Illinois-made SUVs will drop.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 10:49 am:
===The risk is that if gasoline prices jump up, sales of now-popular, Illinois-made SUVs will drop. ===
Click the link: “Even if gas prices spike and consumers shift away from SUVs, he says, the Ford plant can easily switch back to making cars.”
- wordslinger - Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 11:00 am:
–Click the link: “Even if gas prices spike and consumers shift away from SUVs, he says, the Ford plant can easily switch back to making cars.”==
LOL, you really have to close your eyes and dig deep to find the “negative” in South Side UAW auto plants humming at 150% capacity when other plants are being shut down around the country.
- JS Mill - Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 12:00 pm:
=Popularity of vehicles rises and falls with the price of gasoline.=
Maybe use the google and see how long trucks and SUV’s have been the best sellers. You can then correlate that to the cost of fuel.
You will find that you are just simply wrong. But do your own work.
- City Zen - Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 12:46 pm:
Keep building those wagons on stilts.
== how long trucks and SUV’s have been the best sellers==
Top 3 are pick-ups, but the other top-selling vehicles are either sedans or CUV’s built on those sedans’ platforms.
- Anonymous - Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 1:05 pm:
Let’s not congratulate the Wolf yet… Ford and Gm both have greatly pared down their lines to a few big sellers. In Agriculture terms, they’ve become a monoculture, which is great if nothing ever changes or goes bad with the one thing you have everything invested in…
Ford has cancelled all cars except the Mustang and the Focus, it’s all pickups and SUV’s now.
GM even killed it’s Volt electric car line. That doesn’t seem like a good omen. Gas prices and pollution are not solved problems yet.
More diversity in production is a hedge against any one endeavor tanking and taking everything else down with it. I like that illinois does so much of the parts supply biz versus building entire platforms. Suppliers are more nimble and can adapt to changing platforms better than massive assembly line plants can.
- VanillaMan - Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 1:10 pm:
“Buy Local” shouldn’t just be a bumper sticker on a vehicle made on the other side of the Earth and then shipped by polluting Diesel engines by ship, freight trains and trailer trucks to you dealership.
- Illinoisvoter - Monday, Dec 10, 18 @ 2:50 pm:
No mention of Rivian? Realize they only came of
the shadows at the LA auto show after ten years of development, but have since 2016 owned the former
Mitsubishi here in Illinois and intend to produce.