General Motors Adds Jobs in Detroit
The Motor City is getting its mojo back. General Motors announced that it will add 2,500 jobs at a Detroit-area factory.
The news is a boon for Detroit, which had an unemployment rate of 11.3 percent in April.
The factory currently makes electric cars and will now make the new Malibu and a new version of the Impala. Later this year, production of the Cadillac DTS and Buick Lucerne will cease at the facility.
"Filling this plant with new work is very satisfying because GM is dedicated to helping rebuild this city," GM’s North American president, Mark Reuss, told the Associated Press in a statement.
General Motors has had a long-standing history with the Black community. In 1971 they appointed the first African-American to the board of a Fortune 500 company, and they were the largest U.S. employer in South Africa. Additionally, in 1972 they became the first automobile company to launch minority dealer and minority supply initiatives.
Last year a study by the Institute for Research on Labor, Employment and the Economy found that 33,024 workers were impacted by the closing of just one of General Motors' large factories in nearby Montgomery County, Ohio.
About 1,200 of the new jobs will be new hires in Detroit. The company plans to operate the facility around the clock.
(Photo: www.gm.com)