Driving Workforce Change: Regional Impact and Implications of Auto Industry Transformation to a Green Economy

Before the Great Recession, the auto industry in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio was in the throes of restructuring—applying new technologies and production efficiencies, reducing costs, and modifying product lines to equal or beat global competitors—accompanied by an extended period of downsizing. Overlaying the recession on the restructuring compounded the challenges the industry was already facing.

This report is a reality check, accepting that the regional economy is at a fundamentally different place and cannot return from where it came. However, as the auto sector works toward its revival, there are workforce issues to be addressed, particularly in the context of the growing evolution and demands of a green economy.