Plan B Updates - 87: U.S. Car Fleet Shrank by Four Million in 2009 After a Century of Growth, U.S. Fleet Entering Era of Decline. January 06, 2010 U.S.
Car Fleet Shrank by Four Million in 2009 - After a Century of Growth, U.S. Fleet Entering Era of Decline Lester R. Brown America’s century-old love affair with the automobile may be coming to an end. Future U.S. fleet size will be determined by the relationship between two trends: new car sales and cars scrapped. Among the trends that are keeping sales well below the annual figure of 15–17 million that prevailed from 1994 through 2007 are market saturation, ongoing urbanization, economic uncertainty, oil insecurity, rising gasoline prices, frustration with traffic congestion, mounting concerns about climate change, and a declining interest in cars among young people. Crain's Detroit Business : Subscription Center. GM to add 2,500 jobs, invest $1B at Warren Tech Center. General Motors has asked for tax abatements from the City of Warren to help pay for a $1-billion expansion and renovation of the automaker's Technical Center, GM sources said Thursday.
The expansion, if approved, would be one of the largest in the city's history and will involve the addition of between 2,500 and 3,000 jobs, Warren Mayor Jim Fouts said during his eighth annual State of the City address. Fouts declined to mention General Motors in his speech, but GM acknowledged it is considering a major investment at the Tech Center. Energy Power Systems to add 300 jobs in Pontiac expansion. Battery startup Energy Power Systems plans to add more than 300 jobs at a new manufacturing facility in Pontiac after signing a lease for 150,000 square feet of a former General Motors property.
The company, which has been developing its proprietary technology for years, is shifting into full-scale production with the expansion at the former GM Pontiac Centerpoint Central building. Energy Power Systems is renting the space from Industrial Realty Group, which recently purchased the property from Revitalizing Automotive Communities Environmental Response (RACER), the GM bankruptcy trust. Developer may bring 1,000 jobs to old GM sites. GM plans more investments as manufacturing jobs rise. General Motors will announce a new round of plant investments Thursday at its Pontiac Metal Center just as an independent report found the company's U.S. manufacturing employment reached its highest level last year since the 2009 bankruptcy.
Thursday's news is expected to detail upgrades at the Pontiac stamping operation, Delta Township assembly plant near Lansing and other locations. The numbers behind Detroit's jobs crisis. Detroit has made great progress toward addressing the needs of its residents in the last few years.
However, one of the city’s most important challenges remains: rebuilding the city’s workforce. The crux of this challenge is that there are too few jobs in the city for its residents and too many barriers to employment. Improving economic conditions have led to a net gain of over 7,900 residents employed since January 2014. But many Detroiters continue to struggle to access meaningful employment that allows them to support their families and their communities. What will it take to help Detroiters overcome these barriers? To help answer these questions, JPMorgan Chase initiated research to provide context for the challenges facing workers and employers in Detroit.
First, the report confirms that there are more job seekers in the city than available jobs. 228 jobs for Detroit: Major manufacturer to build logistics center in Detroit. Two developers acquired a 25-acre plot in Detroit for a 190,000-square-foot logistics center that will eventually employ 228 workers, officials said Tuesday.
The developers have secured a deal with an unidentified "major manufacturer" and plan to begin the eight-month construction project "shortly," the Revitalizing Automotive Communities Environmental Response (RACER) trust said in a statement.The General Motors bankruptcy trust, which controls properties the automaker relinquished in bankruptcy, said that it had sold three clustered parcels at the Clark Street Technology Park to General Development Company and Friedman Integrated Real Estate Solutions.
The manufacturer's plans include a warehouse, cross-dock facility and a paved yard for 350 trucks. The property is located at 2751 Clark Street, 2860 Clark Street and 2730 Scotten Street, near Michigan Avenue and southwest of downtown. Michigan recruits pork processing plant and 810 jobs to Coldwater. In the biggest such project landed by Michigan since Gov.
Rick Snyder targeted food processing as a jobs-growth sector, Clemens Food Group, of Hatfield, Pa., plans to build a $255-million pork processing plant in Coldwater that will employ 810 workers. The Michigan Strategic Fund approved $12.5 million in Community Development Block Grant funds Tuesday for the city of Coldwater for infrastructure improvements, land acquisition, workforce development and on-the-job training for the plant. Clemens Food CEO Doug Clemens, in an interview with the Free Press, said he aims to have the new Coldwater plant operating by late 2017, and that processing of hiring and training employees will begin in the next six months. Entry-level production jobs will pay about $13 an hour, but a wide range of higher-skill management and technical positions will also be available, he said.