By Rick Haglund
Chronicle Detroit Bureau
DETROIT — Michigan’s troubled economy is taking another unwelcome hit as Chrysler LLC slashes as many as 12,100 jobs and eliminates four vehicle models.
The Auburn Hills-based automaker said Thursday that between 8,500 and 10,000 hourly jobs, 1,000 salaried jobs and about 1,100 contract positions would be cut through 2008.
“This is a shockingly big announcement. It’s not a good sign for Michigan,” said Sean McAlinden, chief economist at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor.
McAlinden said Michigan will lose 5,000 hourly jobs and most of the 2,000 salaried and contract jobs in Chrysler’s latest downsizing.
Michigan has lost 285,000 net jobs since 2000, mainly because of the shrinking auto industry. The state has the highest unemployment rate in the nation at 7.5 percent.
“It’s not inconceivable that you could have a whole decade of (net) job losses in the state,” said University of Michigan economist Don Grimes.
Chrysler said it will stop building the Dodge Magnum, the convertible version of the Chrysler PT Cruiser, the Chrysler Pacifica and the Chrysler Crossfire by next year. None of those vehicles is built in Michigan.
Along with the discontinued models, the automaker said it is eliminating production shifts at five assembly plants, including second shifts at the Jefferson North Assembly Plant in Detroit and the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant. Shifts at both plants will be eliminated in the first quarter of 2008.
Each assembly plant shift employs roughly 1,000 workers. Chrysler said it expects to restore a second shift at Jefferson North in 2010 when it introduces two new sport-utility vehicles.
