Interactive Map: GM's Global Footprint

Great interactive map here from the Detroit News (HT to Dallas Walton) showing GM's plants and manufacturing employees, production and sales, as well as suppliers and retirees, in the United States and around the world.

Some interesting data from the map:

1. In Michigan there are 193,301 GM retirees and 46,467 active manufacturing workers, which is a ratio of more than 4 retirees per active worker. For Ohio, the ratio is more than 6 retirees per active worker, and in Indiana there are 8.6 retirees per active worker! Assuming that all of the retirees are receiving full pension benefits and lifetime health care coverage, it's pretty clear that GM's legacy costs are HUGE, and explain why the hourly cost per active worker in 2008 were $69 in full labor costs (including legacy costs).

As someone said recently, "GM has become a health care benefits management firm that sells cars for a loss as a side venture."

2. To put the decline in the number of GM manufacturing workers in perspective, consider that there are currently about 80,000 GM manufacturing workers in the entire U.S. In the 1970s, GM employed almost 85,000 workers in just one U.S. city: Flint, Michigan, "Vehicle City."