Elon Musk Wants To Reduce The Number Of Employees, Tesla In China Actually Opens Online Vacancies

Tesla in China continues to open new job openings online. (photo: doc. pixabay)

JAKARTA - Tesla added two dozen new job openings for its Chinese factory on Thursday, June 9. They also continued to open up invitations to hiring events, a week after Elon Musk threatened to cut jobs at the electric car maker and said the company was "overstaffed" in some areas.

Tesla has announced plans to hold events online starting at 7 p.m. Shanghai Time (1100 GMT) to recruit staff for "smart manufacturing" roles. This is known from their blog. The event was nowhere to be seen from other accounts on Thursday night and it was not immediately clear if it went ahead for applicants.

Tesla has 224 vacancies currently in China for managers and engineers under that category, according to separate posts on its WeChat account, 24 of which were just posted on June 9. Among the positions posted are managers and engineers to oversee the operation of its 6,000 units. -tons of die casting machine known as Giga Press, one of the largest in the world.

Tesla regularly holds such hiring events online in China, with the most recent being held in May for summer interns.

A China-made Tesla Model 3 vehicle is seen during a delivery event at the automaker's factory in Shanghai, China

Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk walks next to a screen showing an image of a Tesla Model 3 car during the opening ceremony of Tesla China's Model Y program in Shanghai.

A China-made Tesla Model 3 vehicle is seen during a delivery event at the automaker's factory in Shanghai, China

Tesla's revenue in China will more than double in 2021 from a year ago, contributing to a quarter of the US automaker's total revenue. The factory in Shanghai, which produces the Model 3 and Model Y for domestic and export sales, produces more than half of the cars. That number was made last year and Tesla is also planning to expand the plant.

However, production at the plant was hit hard by Shanghai's two-month COVID-19 lockdown that saw it stop work for 22 days and then struggle to return to full production. Prior to this, Tesla had planned to increase production at the plant to 22,000 cars a week by mid-May.

Musk, Tesla's chief executive, said in an email seen by Reuters last week that he had a "very bad feeling" about the economy and needed to cut 10% of staff salaries at the electric car maker.

In another email to employees on Friday, Musk said Tesla would reduce the number of salaried employees by 10%, as it has become "overstaffed in many areas" but added that "the number of employees per hour will increase". Musk has not commented specifically on staffing in China.