Global auto market records massive job loss in 2019 – Report

With few hours to the expiration of 2019, the auto market, not just in Nigeria, but globally turned grim considering the statistics coming out from the various auto makers across the globe.

The situation worsened when General Motor (GM) announced its plan to cut 14,000 jobs and shutting down of seven of its plants, five of which are built in North America. Though the announcement came sometime in November 2018, but the majority of ‘restructuring’ was undertaken in 2019.

Another Detroit automaker Ford Motor is in the process of performing massive downsizing at its production plants in Europe and the US.

In June, the company announced the elimination of about 12,000 contractual workers in Europe by the end of 2020. This was in continuation of the company’s global restructuring program where it cut off about 7,000 salaried employees, more than 32 per cent of which laid off in the US alone. The total workers employed by Ford across the globe stood at 199,000 at the end of last year.

UK is one of the worst affected markets, which is reeling under the prolonged uncertainty of Brexit. One in three car firms are cutting jobs and one in eight have divested from their UK businesses in a sign that Brexit is already causing damage to the sector, as per an article published in The Guardian in October.

Notably, about 14 per cent of companies, including manufacturers, components and services companies, in UK car industry have already relocated, as per a survey by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

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