Chrysler puts out 'Help Wanted' sign

Dec 6th /2010 DETROIT

After several years of massive staff cuts, Chrysler Group is hiring again.

Chrysler plans to hire 1,000 engineers and other skilled workers over the
next four months to enhance its development efforts for small and mid-sized
cars, spokesman Mike Palese said.

Last month, Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, while discussing the automaker's
third-quarter financial results, said the company expected to hire
additional workers in the coming months to support product development,
manufacturing and sales.

About 60 percent of the new hires will be employed directly by Chrysler, and
the rest are full-time jobs with contract agencies, Palese said. He declined
to elaborate.

Most of these employees will work at Chrysler's suburban Detroit
headquarters and technology center and develop new small and fuel-efficient
cars, engines and transmissions. Palese says laid-off Chrysler workers are
welcome to apply, but those who took a buyout are not eligible, in line with
the terms of their buyouts.The hires come after several years of severe job
cuts and a government-led bankruptcy and restructuring last year. Those cuts
included the loss of 12,000 salaried employees in 2008.

After the latest round of hiring, Chrysler will have added an additional
5,500 jobs since emerging from bankruptcy in June 2009. On July 19, the
company started a second shift at its Jefferson North assembly plant in
Detroit, hiring 1,080 workers to produce the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee and
Dodge Durango. In the second quarter of next year, Chrysler will add a
second shift of 900 workers at its Sterling Heights, Mich., plant. The 2011
models of the Dodge Avenger and Chrysler 200 will be built there.

Global employment was 51,663 at the end of June, compared with 47,188 in
June 2009. Both are well below the 82,284 employees Chrysler reported at the
end of 2006.