Job Creation

General Motors Co. on Thursday said it will create 650 new jobs as it invests $5.4 billion into U.S. plants through 2017, including a total of $783.5 million at three Michigan sites.

GM and UAW executives announced the investments at GM's Pontiac Metal Center, which is getting $124 million in upgrades, including a new press. It will add 15 jobs with the investment. The plant was among those that faced closure around GM's bankruptcy but today has about 490 employees.

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. This week local officials in Arlington, Tex., voted on incentives for a $1.2 billion expansion of the assembly plant that produces the Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban and GMC Yukon.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich said today that the state doing everything it can to convince Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to produce the next generation Jeep Wrangler in Toledo even though he is opposes "corporate welfare."

"When it comes to Toledo, it's critical for us, the Jeep is critical for us and the opportunity for perhaps for more employment than we have is great," Kasich said today after a speech in Detroit. "We are doing everything we can, we are being as creative as we can."

General Motors Co plans to begin building the Chevrolet Bolt, its all-new $30,000 electric car, in October 2016 at an underused small-car plant north of Detroit, two supplier sources said.

Despite the heavy hype surrounding the car's unveiling last month at the Detroit auto show, the sources said, GM's production target for the Bolt is relatively modest, at about 25,000-30,000 cars a year.

If the new Congress can agree on anything this year, it may well be the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal between the United States and 11 other countries throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Passions run high when it comes to trade deals these days, and the Obama administration is working hard to sell it to labor unions, which roundly oppose it.

Negotiations over the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement are continuing this week in Washington, but some economists say the talks shouldn’t be limited to traditional trade barriers like tariffs.

According to Market Pulse, among the issues on the agenda are “intellectual property and reform of state-owned firms to establish fair business competition,” as well as bilateral issues, “such as Japan’s proposed exceptional tariffs on some agricultural produce.”

On Tuesday October 8th, the first round of graduates became certified General Motors technicians through GM’s partnership with the U.S. Army and Raytheon Company titled ‘Shifting Gears.’

The program looks to empower returning soldiers with hands-on course work and training at the Texas Fort Hood base to help reintegrate into civilian life. The 12-week program has been years in the making, and teaches essential skills to allow returning soldiers the opportunity to further serve as a technician at a General Motors dealership.

General Motors Co. —trying to stir some buzz around the next generation Chevrolet Volt plug-in—said Tuesday it will move production of the vehicle’s electric drive unit to its home state of Michigan from Mexico.

Looking for ways to stimulate economic growth and create jobs, US President Barack Obama’s administration is seeking to press ahead with the mega-regional free-trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). But is the US going about it the right way?