By Associated Press
Nashville, TN – Two years after the end of the Great Recession, the auto industry is hiring again - and much faster than the rest of the economy. As an employer, it's growing faster than airplane manufacturers, shipbuilders, health care providers and the federal government. Some of that hiring is in Tennessee, where Volkswagen opened a plant last month with 2,000 workers. Nearly 700,000 are employed by the U.S. auto industry, a 12 percent increase from 2009. Sales are back up too since 2009, when they were at a 30-year low. Volkswagen figures the Tennessee plant, where it will make its new Passat, will create 9,000 spin-off jobs in the region. Parts jobs are also up, including in Kentucky, where the Chevrolet Corvette and Toyota Camry are made.