Enough with the Calvins wizzing on the Ford/Chevy logo.

May 1, 2008 8:10 PM

Asking for Mr. Oflinkey: Where can he find reliable statistics about how many Americans are employed by various auto manufacturers (Honda, Toyota, Ford, etc.). This should not be limited to manufacturing jobs. He is seeking this information to answer a larger question: Does buying American-made cars really make much of a difference anymore?
posted by oflinkey to travel & transportation (4 comments total)

Bureau of Labor Statistics keeps track of these numbers. Looks like around 1/4 million workers. Can't help you with the second part of the question.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 8:29 PM on May 1, 2008

For individual companies, their own websites are the best source, generally under "company profile" or "investor relations":

Toyota US information is on their website, here (pdf)
Honda website info is here
Ford info from pg122 of this big annual report pdf.
GM info is here, but please note that in February '08 they offered 74,000 US workers a severance package, the outcome of which will change the figures greatly.

Rinse and repeat for whichever company you want.

There is also an industry report called the Harbour Report that has all of the details, but it's costly. You might be able to get it a library.

As to the second part of the question, given the recent GM announcement, the answer is "probably not", unless you're part of the corporate aristocracy of GM or Ford.
posted by Jakey at 2:50 AM on May 2, 2008

Hell, I'd argue that buying a Honda IS buying American by this point; not only do they manuacture the cars here, but if I remember correctly, they source more of their parts from US companies than any of the Big Three.
posted by Madamina at 4:57 AM on May 2, 2008

Honda does NOT source more of it's parts from US companies than GM. Also, having an assembly plant in the US is only worth about 25 % of US content. I think that most Honda engineering is still done in Japan. Yes, it does make a big difference buying an American-made car, don't let anybody try to tell you differently.
posted by rfs at 9:51 AM on May 2, 2008