Ford announced it will lay off at least 1,000 workers in the United States and Canada, despite the Biden administration's promotion of its electric vehicles and allocation of billions of dollars in green subsidies that will benefit auto manufacturers including Ford.
The automotive giant began notifying employees this week that job cuts are imminent as it looks to offset costs in developing and building electric cars, the Wall Street Journal reported. The cuts will mainly affect engineers, including those in the green vehicles sector of the company.
The job cuts come despite the White House's focus on funding green initiatives and promoting electric vehicles. Ford declared its intention to capitalize off of President Joe Biden's 2021 Inflation Reduction Act, which dedicates nearly $400 billion to green spending. Both Biden and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm promoted Ford's electric car fleet. Granholm also selected Ford lobbyist Christopher Smith to serve on the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
Ford also received a $9.2 billion loan from the Biden administration this month to build electric vehicle battery plants.
Other automakers have cut jobs to balance out their investments in green energy, the Journal reported:
Many automakers are focused on areas where they can cut costs to offset their heavy investments in EV development. In recent months, General Motors and Jeep-maker Stellantis both began offering buyouts, with executives emphasizing the need to control costs as they pour more money into electric and digital technology. Stellantis’s buyout offers also included unionized workers at its U.S. factories.