The Jobs Bank = $500 Million Annual Cost to Big 3

From today's Detroit News: "Currently, Chrysler has 711 workers in the jobs bank, GM has 1,404 and Ford has 1,476."

Let's do the math:

Ford: 1,476 workers x [$70 per hour base pay plus cost-of-living adjustments, holiday and vacation pay, health-care, pension and other benefits ) x 95% pay while on layoff] x 40 hours per week x 50 weeks per year = $196M per year.

GM: 1,404 workers x [$70 per hour (salary and benefits) x 95%] x 40 hours per week x 50 weeks per year = $187M per year.

Chrysler: 711 workers x [$70 per hour (salary and benefits) x 95% pay while on layoff] x 40 hours per week x 50 weeks per year = $95M per year.

Total Annual Cost of the Jobs Bank to the Big 3 = $478 million (almost half a billion dollars) for 3,591 "workers," and that does not include any support costs, administrative costs, or other costs to handle these workers all year long.

As the WSJ reminds us about the jobs bank, it's "Nice nonwork, if you can get it."

However from today's Detroit News article, "Eliminating the program entirely would be a tough sell for UAW president Ron Gettelfinger, who is unlikely to support any change that would put these workers out on the street. Additional buyouts remain an option, but the idea of nearly bankrupt automakers paying idled workers to leave is also likely to draw sharp criticism from some in Congress."

HT: Peter Bush

Update: So while the Big Three spent close to $500 million over the last year for idle "workers" in the "Jobs Bank," Honda built a brand new factory in Indiana for about the same amount of money ($550 million).