Tesla Motors Now California’s Biggest Auto-Industry Employer

May 26th, 2014 by James Ayre

Tesla Motors is now the largest auto-industry employer in California — employing more than 6000 people within the state, with a further 500 jobs expected to be added to that figure before the end of 2014.

That’s an impressive feat considering how young the company is. And an even more impressive feat when you consider the fact that Toyota has substantial operations based in the state as well — employing around 5,300 people currently.

That number will drop considerably when Toyota makes its move to the state of Texas, though, taking most of those jobs with it. When that happens, Tesla won’t have much competition left — and will possess a clear and substantial lead on any other auto-industry employer in the state.

Green Car Reports provides more:

It’s all part of Tesla’s rapid expansion, as it gears up for higher sales, more vehicles, greater battery production and expansion into China. It’s also beneficial for California itself, as high labor and energy costs and strict environmental guidelines are seeing some manufacturing industry companies — such as Toyota — jump to other states.

Industrial power rates in the state are 55% higher than the US average, said California Manufacturers & Technology Association spokesman Gino DiCaro. Workers are also paid more, and getting clearance to expand or open factories can be time-consuming and expensive. In recent decades, the state has concentrated more on technology, defense and aerospace, rather than car production — but Tesla is a good fit for California and has brought manufacturing back at its Fremont plant — previously co-owned by GM and Toyota.





Tesla’s workforce — which currently totals around 5,800 people worldwide — is sure to grow significantly in the next few years as several of the company’s expansion plans come to fruition (presumably). The most widely reported on would of course be the Gigafactory. Or is that “Gigafactories” — as in dozens or even hundreds of them?

The company shouldn’t have any trouble finding workers, though, given the flood of responses that they seem to be getting when they post job openings. Humorously (sort of anyways), the response to a recent job fair the company put on in Fremont was so great that the event actually had to be cancelled after just two hours — owing to huge turnout and resulting traffic jam.









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