The shift to electronic drive vehicles endangers jobs in the German automotive industry. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa/archive)
Nearly every tenth job in the German automotive industry is in danger of being eliminated by the year 2030, according to German metalworkers’ union IG Metall. The reason behind this is the shift to electronic drive vehicles, which are technologically more simple. If the share of electric cars increases to 25 percent by 2030, new jobs will be needed for roughly 70,000 auto workers, said Jörg Hofmann, chairman of the union, in a recent interview with the German business publication “Manager-Magazin”.
The head of IG Metall warned German car manufacturers to produce battery cells themselves in the future. “If German industry is left behind here, they will not only become dependent on corporations in Korea and China,” said Hofmann. “They will also have problems with innovation. This is something we have to prevent.” Hofmann said he could envision setting up joint ventures with Asian companies, for example.
The trade unionist sees German car companies as being responsible for their roughly 800,000 employees, of which about 320,000 in turn work in the area of powertrains. “They have to further train their employees, facilitate new professional opportunities, and not only engage in personnel development for management,” he said. “In short, they need to prepare their team for this transformation.”
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