General Motors plans to eliminate 30,000 jobs this year. Ford is expected to close four plants that employ about 7,500 people, and recently announced plans to cut about 4,000 more salaried jobs in addition to the 2,700 it has already eliminated in 2005. The two auto giants are not alone in cutting jobs; just the two major cases at the moment.
Paradoxically, the serious shortage of qualified employees that a vast majority of U.S. manufacturers are now experiencing is taking an increasingly negative toll on America's ability to compete in the global economy, according to the 2005 Skills Gap Report issued recently by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM, Washington) and Deloitte Consulting LLP (New York).