Rehired workers will make components for the third generation Prius hybrid.
Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) announced in Tokyo this morning that the number of fixed-term employees it plans to hire starting in October would be approximately 1,600.
The largest Japanese automaker said the decision to increase the number of contract employees “reflects future production plans, against a backdrop of gradually recovering worldwide automobile sales encouraged by tax-incentive and subsidy programs implemented in various countries.”
Recruiting is to center on former TMC “fixed-term” employees, with those rehired expected to take up positions in various plants from the beginning of October through early November.
It is the first, small expansion of a contracted workforce since June of 2008. Since then the loss-making company has slashed its temporary workforce in Japan from 9,000 workers to 1,300, as it cut production after the collapse of Lehman Brothers a year ago sent the world’s markets into crisis. Similar cuts were made in other markets.
The rehired workers will produce components for the third generation Prius hybrid whose sales in Japan have soared because of a Japanese government incentive program on clean vehicles. Toyota has 250,000 Japanese orders currently for the Prius.
Despite drastic cutback globally, TMC still projects $4.84 billion loss for the year ending in March 2010.