Germany To Cut 400,000 Auto Jobs In Next Decade As Car Production Crashes

The start of approximately 400,000 job losses in the German automotive industry is already underway as the industry shifts towards electric vehicles, reported the Financial Times. 

Germany’s workforce is likely to contract by 1% in the next ten years as carmakers such as Audi, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, and Porsche transition to electric car sales. 

The shift from a combustion engine to electric, and the resulting factor it might lead to job losses is merely a cover, or a narrative by the German press, likely created by the government, to shield the public’s view from collapsing car production in the country. 

Why frighten consumers and tell them German car production has crashed to 23-year lows when narrative creation in the press can assure everyone that the slump is because carmakers are doing away with dirty fossil fuel engines for a greener future. 

The German government expects carmakers to produce 10 million electric cars by 2030. With the addition of automation and artificial intelligence in factories, the need for humans will continue to wane and displace even more. 

The automotive industry in the country supports 800,000 jobs and indirectly supports 3 million more. 

“It is the joint responsibility of industry, trade unions, and politics to promote reskilling so that negative effects on the labor market can be kept to a minimum,” said Kurt-Christian Scheel, the VDA’s managing director that represents Germany’s carmakers.

Volkswagen’s Zwickau factory and Porsche’s Zuffenhausen assembly line have so far been converted to electric vehicle production without significant job losses, thanks to the bargaining power of unions. 

It’s time the German press and government stop blaming electric cars for the massive job losses that could soon hit the industry in the coming quarters and years and prepare for a financial storm as car production has already crashed to several decade lows.