Jim Dole Director of the Level Field Institute Address
by Region 8 Webmaster John Davis

“At the Level Field Institute, we believe that people do not know the issues that face your industry. If we do not try to educate the public, then they don’t understand there is a difference between the automakers.

People think that buying a car is just buying a car and they hear all this news about the transplants building plants and the domestic automakers closing plants. Still, the domestic automakers provide many more jobs and investment in this country. The Japanese Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA), an association of 14 Japanese automakers doing business in America, notes that they collectively employ more than 3,600 R&D workers at 36 facilities nationwide. Honda operates 10 facilities employing 1,300 R&D professionals. Level Field welcomes these jobs, but more than 65,000 Americans (20 times JAMA's total) work in 215 automotive R&D facilities in Michigan alone.

GM employees more employees than all the foreign workers combined. There are more jobs at the Ford Rough Plant than all of Hyundai and Volkswagen combined. Each car purchase supports jobs. The big three support 33 jobs for every 1,000 cars they sale, Toyota supports 12 jobs for every 1,000 cars they sale. GM, Ford and Chrysler have more of their workers here than the transplants. It has nothing to do with efficient, but rather the amount of the work that is done here.

"Made in America" matters even more when you look at the men and women working for auto parts suppliers that serve automakers. These companies employ nearly twice as more Americans than the automakers themselves. And Ford, GM and Chrysler purchase approximately 80 percent of the parts these people make. Based on market share, foreign automakers should be buying about twice what they are.

We need to educate our families on what this means. Let’s take a different approach and look at what would happen if GM, Ford and Chrysler ceased to exist. We need all the autoworkers, the union members, the salary workers and the dealers to stand together and make this point. In the parts sector alone, the loss of the big three would result in the loss of 232,000 supplier jobs. In assembly, there would be another 160,000 jobs loss. The general public doesn’t think about this. To sum it up, the domestic automakers lose ten jobs for every one that a transplant brings.

When you are talking to your neighbors and family, make certain they understand this. This is what we do. Visit our website for more information and use this information to educate the public that all cars are not the same.

http://www.levelfieldinstitute.org