Metro Detroit Exodus
Screenhot taken by Peter Massura from CBC News
The Oshawa GM plant will be closing soon resulting in over 2500 jobs.
Less than one week ago, General Motors (GM) announced the discontinuation of six cars. This will cause the loss of about 14,000 jobs, many of which are held by Metro Detroiters.
In 1908 General Motors was founded in Flint, Michigan. General Motors has since grown to have an estimated worth of 70 billion dollars. Since the founding of General Motors in 1908, they now employ over 180,000 people. Included in this number are many people who call Metro Detroit their home.
As announced on November 6, 2018, about 14,000 GM employees will lose their jobs in less than six months. This number does not include the thousands of non-GM employees who work for companies which supply GM. Not only does this layoff affect the thousands of employees who work for or supply GM, but it affects their families and livelihood.
”I am not nervous or worried but I am concerned for the future,” said junior Lyndi Harmon, whose family member works for GM.
This mass number of unemployed workers will not come without baggage. With thousands unemployed, many must soon start to look for another job. The only problem, it is very hard to find thousands of open jobs in Metro Detroit, and in order to employ all workers who had lost their jobs, many must look outside of Metro Detroit, or even Michigan. In the near future, Metro Detroit may experience something new: a move away from the metro Detroit area due to the auto industry.
A common and very catastrophic problem can arise when a large company or industry must lay off large numbers of people. This will occur over time and in phases. As more people move out of the area, there are less people within the community spending money on local business. As less money is being transferred between people and store fronts, companies simply do not make the same kind of money they are used to in order to run their business. This causes the loss of many jobs around the community, which could soon spiral into a depression.
Empty auto assembly plant. GM plans to close five plants this year alone.
“I don’t know anyone who is personally affected by this, but I don’t want to face the ripple effect,” said sophomore Mitchell Bowery.
This is the worst case scenario for this particular layoff, but that doesn’t mean any number of the possibilities will not happen. At a time when Detroit is regaining its reputation in all its glory, this turn of events has everyone looking at the future with uncertainty.
