1 out of 10?
by Tom on November 18, 2008
in Market Musings
“The auto industry supports one of every 10 jobs in the United States,” Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm of Michigan wrote in a CNN.com plea for a bailout of Detroit’s Big Three. The day before, she told “The Early Show” on CBS that “this industry supports one in 10 jobs in the country,” adding, “If this industry is allowed to fail, there will be a ripple effect throughout the nation.” Many others have used the same statistic.
That’s a scary figure. It’s also somewhat misleading.
How Many Jobs Depend on the Big Three? – Economix Blog – NYTimes.com.
Just another example of how you can’t trust what you read in the media.
Gov. Granholm says that the auto industry supports 1 out of every 10 jobs. That’s a big number. But she’s also implying that if one or more of the Big Three went under, we’d see a 10% jump in unemployment. That’s not true either……
Many of the auto industry jobs will be lost, yes. And that is something that the government needs to consider and, in my opinion, work on plans towards realigning and retraining those workers so they can find a new job.
But at the same time, many of the jobs that are auto industry “supported” will be just fine. Will the car wash employees lose their jobs if GM goes under? Nope. What about the local independent mechanic? Nope?
Also, keep in mind that the studies that are cited in the article above are funded by the Center for Automotive Research. Guess who pays for their studies?
That’s a large number … I wonder how much that affects the Real Estate Market