ID :
79141
Wed, 09/09/2009 - 15:02
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/79141
The shortlink copeid
Toyota to resume hiring temp workers in Oct. for 1st time in 16 months+
NAGOYA, Sept. 8 Kyodo - Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday it plans to hire about 800 temporary workers in October to meet production increases on the back of a gradual recovery in global vehicle sales, marking its first such job increase in 16 months.
Recent pickups in auto sales, particularly for its best-selling Prius hybrid,
have been supported by government tax breaks and subsidies for fuel-efficient
cars, but Toyota President Akio Toyoda said demand has not fully recovered and
remained cautious about further steps to increase its workforce.
Toyoda also told reporters that Toyota is still facing excess production
capacity but added that shutdown of plants will be a last resort for the
world's largest automaker even amid ''rock-bottom'' business conditions.
''We have considerable supplying capacity, but there is an extremely large gap
between the break-even sales level and our actual sales figure,'' he told
reporters.
The fresh recruitment will center on former temporary workers at Toyota, and
new employees will be assigned to factories in Aichi Prefecture, home of the
automaker, under contracts of four to six months, it said.
It is unclear whether Toyota will renew the contracts when they expire or
whether it will hire more temporary workers due to concern that automobile
sales may decrease once the positive effects of global government stimulus
measures wane, company officials said.
Toyota has recently been boosting output of its gasoline-electric hybrid cars,
including the Prius hatchback, and other fuel-efficient cars partly as domestic
demand for the eco-friendly vehicles has increased due to government tax breaks
and subsidies for their purchase.
In Japan, new vehicle sales rose 2.3 percent in August from a year earlier to
198,265 units, the first year-on-year rise in 13 months, with Toyota's sales,
excluding those of its Lexus brand, expanding 9.0 percent to 90,802 units.
Toyota also benefited from the U.S. government's recent ''cash for clunkers''
rebate program, which ended in late August. It was intended to prop up the
country's faltering car market by encouraging manufacturers to produce more
fuel-efficient vehicles.
But Toyoda cautioned it is still too early to say the U.S. auto market is on a
recovery trend while optimism is still premature for the domestic market.
Toyota suspended hiring temporary workers in June last year due to the global
recession, which forced the automaker to substantially reduce production.
The number of temporary workers at the automaker totaled about 1,300 as of the
end of August, down from about 8,000 in June last year.
Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and Hino Motors Ltd. have also decided to resume
recruiting temporary workers.
==Kyodo
2009-09-08 23:02:12
Recent pickups in auto sales, particularly for its best-selling Prius hybrid,
have been supported by government tax breaks and subsidies for fuel-efficient
cars, but Toyota President Akio Toyoda said demand has not fully recovered and
remained cautious about further steps to increase its workforce.
Toyoda also told reporters that Toyota is still facing excess production
capacity but added that shutdown of plants will be a last resort for the
world's largest automaker even amid ''rock-bottom'' business conditions.
''We have considerable supplying capacity, but there is an extremely large gap
between the break-even sales level and our actual sales figure,'' he told
reporters.
The fresh recruitment will center on former temporary workers at Toyota, and
new employees will be assigned to factories in Aichi Prefecture, home of the
automaker, under contracts of four to six months, it said.
It is unclear whether Toyota will renew the contracts when they expire or
whether it will hire more temporary workers due to concern that automobile
sales may decrease once the positive effects of global government stimulus
measures wane, company officials said.
Toyota has recently been boosting output of its gasoline-electric hybrid cars,
including the Prius hatchback, and other fuel-efficient cars partly as domestic
demand for the eco-friendly vehicles has increased due to government tax breaks
and subsidies for their purchase.
In Japan, new vehicle sales rose 2.3 percent in August from a year earlier to
198,265 units, the first year-on-year rise in 13 months, with Toyota's sales,
excluding those of its Lexus brand, expanding 9.0 percent to 90,802 units.
Toyota also benefited from the U.S. government's recent ''cash for clunkers''
rebate program, which ended in late August. It was intended to prop up the
country's faltering car market by encouraging manufacturers to produce more
fuel-efficient vehicles.
But Toyoda cautioned it is still too early to say the U.S. auto market is on a
recovery trend while optimism is still premature for the domestic market.
Toyota suspended hiring temporary workers in June last year due to the global
recession, which forced the automaker to substantially reduce production.
The number of temporary workers at the automaker totaled about 1,300 as of the
end of August, down from about 8,000 in June last year.
Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and Hino Motors Ltd. have also decided to resume
recruiting temporary workers.
==Kyodo
2009-09-08 23:02:12
