Tesla to Texas County: How Does 5,000 Jobs Sound?
To Travis County, Texas, wherein lies the city of Austin, it probably sounds great.
Tesla, which has been on the hunt for a second U.S. production site for months, plans to pitch just such an offer to county officials on Tuesday, Bloomberg reports. In it, the automaker calls the jobs “middle-skill,” which has assembly plant worker written all over it.
Earlier this month, word arose that Tesla was in the process of negotiating an incentives package with Austin-area officials in advance of a possible plant build. Company CEO Elon Musk, eager to move more of his business away from California while also building capacity for construction of additional Model Y vehicles and the forthcoming Cybertruck, made his desire to set up shop in Texas clear.
It’s looking likely that Tulsa, Oklahoma embarrassed itself for nothing.
According to Bloomberg, Tesla’s pitch relies, at least in some part, on highlighting employment losses experienced during the pandemic. In Travis County, unemployment hit 12.4 percent in April, compared to just 2.2 percent a year earlier.
Obviously, jurisdictions hurting from the pandemic might prove very receptive to companies proposing 5,000 middle-skill jobs at a $1 billion factory. Average annual salary for the permanent jobs proposed would be just north of $47,000, the presentation reportedly states.
In return for the roughly 5 million-square-foot plant, Tesla will want concessions from local officials; just how much it intends to save via tax breaks (and who knows what other perks) is unknown.
[Image: Tesla]
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You can outsource restaurants to China. Order food online and they will bring it on first available flight.
Positive - direct jobs and indirect support jobs hugely available. Negative - Starting about 25 years ago new tech completely bastardized Austin. The quaint bohemian town I fell in love with is no more. Also, traffic is already standstill levels. Progress I guess.
The jobs magnet that is Texas has successfully attracted one member of my nuclear family - from way over there.
It certainly would be radically cheaper and easier to build in Travis County than it would be to try expanding further in Fremont, CA. Silicon Valley has a now long tradition of giving birth to gifted business children and then seeing them move away.