Today, General Motors ($GM) announced that it would halt production in three North American assembly facilities in Lordstown, Ohio, Hamtramck, Michigan, and Oshawa, Ontario as part of a continued effort of its restructuring following its infamous bankruptcy in 2008. In October, the company offered buyouts to 18,000 out of its 50,000 employees, with company production at these plants falling below 80% production capacity according to Reuters.
In the months preceding this announcement, overall hiring at General Motors plummeted. On September 26, General Motors was looking to hire for 365 positions. Two months later, it was only looking for 45 positions to be filled, a decrease of 87.67%.
Specifically in Lordstown and Hamtramck, the two U.S. cities that would stop production completely, job openings were few and far between. In Hamtramck, General Motors was only looking for one or two people at a time since April 27, 2018.
The one position it's looking to fill now — and hasn't been filled since April 27 — isn't even for a production line job. In fact, it's for an on-call Registered Nurse to help with medical emergencies at the plant.
The Lordstown plant was also only looking for one or two employees at a time, but listings data for that specific town went dark as of July 14, 2018. In other words, there was absolutely zero listings for the plant on the official General Motors website for the past four months.
In the months preceding this announcement, overall hiring at General Motors plummeted. On September 26, General Motors was looking to hire for 365 positions. Two months later, it was only looking for 45 positions to be filled, a decrease of 87.67%
In what was yet another canary in a coal mine in recent weeks, job listings declined right before GM's layoff announcement, which comes right as shares are still down 12% for the year.
