Markets

Chrysler, Too, Is Adding Some Jobs as Part of Its Move to Smaller Cars

By Jim Henry

Updated on: December 1, 2010 / 6:38 PM EST / MoneyWatch

Chrysler points out in response to an earlier post of mine that it, too, has created a lot of new jobs since emerging from bankruptcy last year.

I wrote earlier about how Chrysler, Ford (F) and General Motors (GM) have made a big deal out of new investments to "retain" jobs. To me, it's a comment on the state of the auto industry that it's something to brag about when you merely refrain from cutting jobs, let alone create new ones.

Meanwhile, Chrysler announced today that it's doing more than just hanging on to the jobs it has. Chrysler plans to hire 1,000 new engineers and other technical personnel, in connection with its planned growth in smaller vehicles, as opposed to its former reliance on big trucks. The aim is to have them on board by the end of the first quarter 2011, according to Lisa Wicker, Chrysler Group director of talent acquisition and corporate diversity.

Chrysler says that all told, it has added about 6,000 new employees since coming out of bankruptcy in June 2009. GM also got credit in my earlier story for adding 1,000 jobs in electric-vehicle development and engineering. Nevertheless, all the domestic car companies are a lot smaller than they were just a few years ago.

Chrysler's current headcount is around 51,000 on its way to about 52,000. That's down from 56,600 in late 2008. The sobering thing is, the company had 84,375 employees at the end of 2004.

The goal today isn't to get back to that point. Chrysler and GM both used bankruptcy restructuring last year to greatly speed up the process of shrinking themselves to be profitable at much lower volumes. Ford didn't resort to bankruptcy, but it's following the same strategy.

It's still a fair comment that simply not cutting jobs isn't much of a rallying cry. But Chrysler deserves credit for adding some jobs back, too.

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