As consumer demands for electric cars increase, so will jobs in green technology. The last five years have seen the auto industry handing out more pink slips than applications and even though it is agreed that the auto industry will most likely never return to its pre-recession employee numbers, the increasing popularity of environmentally friendly vehicles will see some jobs return.
According to information from Des Rosiers Automotive Consultants, in 2001, it there were 199,218 Canadians working in the auto industry. In 2009, a 7 per cent drop to 133,375 was noted and in April of 2010, there were an estimated 123,829 Canadians employed by the industry.
The Electrovaya Mississauga, Ontario plant is currently hiring engineers to help produce the lithium-ion batteries that run these green, eco-machines. Gitanjali DasGupta, manager of Electrovaya's electric vehicle division says, "Every auto company is looking to green their fleets, to electrify their fleets. (The industry) is truly making a very structural shift. Electrovaya is an enabler of that and one of the key beneficiaries of that."
Due to high expectations in the demand for green cars, Linamar Corp, which is Canada's second largest manufacturer of auto parts in Guelph, intends to hire as many as 1,300 people by the end of 2011. Linda Hasenfratz noted in a recent interview that these numbers are the result of the consumer's demand for the manufacturing of solar energy parts as well as to build more fuel-efficient cars.
Carlos Gomes, automotive economist at Scotiabank feels, "The next generation of jobs in the Canadian auto industry won't come from the big automakers' assembly plants, but from suppliers that develop innovative new technologies. I think that is one of the key trends going forward, especially because we now have legislation in place that requires the automakers to improve their overall fuel efficiency," Gomes said.
The employment boost from the demand in green technologies won't be felt until around 2015. "Certainly there will be an advantage from green (technology), but that's not going to be instantaneous. We don't expect to see massive impacts from green for some time," says Bill Pochiluk, president of industry research firm AutomotiveCompass.
In April 2010, the Canadian and U.S. governments made a joint announcement regarding the new auto standards which include an increase of 40 per cent on fuel-efficiency and a 25 per cent reduction of greenhouse emissions within the next six years. These new compliances will put a strain on older cars that are still on the road, but putting in some environmentally friendly repairs in an attempt to upkeep is cheaper than altogether replacing your car.
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