Detroit's automakers are cutting office jobs. Toyota is hiring them. GM, Ford, and Stellantis have shed more than 20,000 U.S. salaried workers from their peaks this decade. Toyota grew its American office headcount by about 31% over the same window. Same industry. Very different bets.
The Detroit Three peaked at roughly 102,000 white-collar workers in 2022. By the end of last year, they were down to 88,700. That is a 13% drop in three years.
GM led the cuts. The largest U.S. automaker has reduced its office jobs by about 11,000 from 2022 through last year. The headcount went from 58,000 down to roughly 47,000.
Ford has scaled back by about 5,300 white-collar workers from its 2020 peak. Stellantis has gone from 15,000 salaried workers in 2020 to around 11,000 today.
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Each automaker has its own reasons. The trend points the same way. The industry is shifting to software-defined cars, self-driving tech, electric drivetrains, and now AI. Companies that grew their office teams to chase the EV boom are now unwinding those headcounts.
This week, GM laid off between 500 and 600 salaried workers around the world, mostly in IT roles in Texas and Michigan. People familiar with the cuts told CNBC that changing AI needs were part of the reason.
GM CEO Mary Barra has been direct about what is happening. At an Automotive Press Association meeting in January, she said: "Sometimes the people who got you to 'point A' aren't necessarily people who are going to get you to 'point B.'"
Ford CEO Jim Farley has been even blunter. At the Aspen Ideas Festival in July, he said: "Artificial intelligence is going to replace literally half of all white-collar workers in the U.S."
Even with the cuts, the Detroit Three are still hiring. They have more than 2,000 open jobs in the U.S. right now. Nearly 400 of those are AI roles, and GM alone is hiring for more than 250 AI jobs.
The picture is clear. The old workforce is shrinking. A new one is growing in its place. Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa says his company plans to add more than 2,000 white-collar jobs in North America.
The shift is not unique to autos. Boston Consulting Group thinks 10% to 15% of all U.S. jobs could be gone in five years because of AI. The same firm thinks 50% to 55% of U.S. jobs will be reshaped by AI in the next two to three years.
Gad Levanon, chief economist at the Burning Glass Institute, told CNBC that the jobs most at risk are routine office roles in finance and IT, including coding. Toyota is making a different bet. The cuts in Detroit are real. So are the seats getting filled.
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