Australian Car Manufaturing Jobs Hang On Local Hybrid Production, Says Study

[JoeT]

Car Jobs Hang On A Hybrid

Cameron England
11 December 2007
www.carsguide.com.au

Automotive manufacturing employment will wane over the next five years if Australian car makers do not look at building a hybrid model, Australian Institute for Social Research executive director John Spoehr says.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released yesterday show the number of South Australians employed in the machinery and equipment manufacturing sector stabilised in 2005-06 at about 31,200.

This followed a sharp fall from 35,500 in 2003-04 to 31,400 the following year.

Mr Spoehr said carmakers should embrace Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's commitment to establish a $500 million green-car innovation fund to spur investment in the local industry.

“There's been a stabilisation of auto manufacturing after the shocks that occurred at Mitsubishi,” he said. “In the absence of any detrimental decision from Mitsubishi or GMH, it's not surprising that employment has stabilised for the time being, but that's likely to be affected over the next 12 months by big decisions about the next steps in relation to future models."

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