Tesla canceled three online recruitment events for China scheduled this month. This is in line with Chief Executive Elon Musk’s statement that electric car manufacturers are experiencing “overstaffed” in some areas.
However, Musk has not commented specifically on Tesla’s workforce in China. Tesla’s Shanghai factory produces more than half of world output, and accounts for a quarter of the company’s revenue by 2021.
The company canceled three events for its sales, R&D and supply chain positions that were originally scheduled to take place on June 16, 23 and 30, Tesla reported via messaging app WeChat late Thursday. The notice did not state the reason for the cancellation.
Tesla did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on Friday.
Notifications about a June 9 event to recruit staff for “smart manufacturing” roles are nowhere to be seen. It is not yet known whether the event has gone according to plan or not.
Tesla’s China business has not closed the door to job applications for the more than 1,000 vacancies posted on the social media platform, such as aerodynamics engineer, supply chain manager, store manager, plant supervisor and worker.
Musk has a “very bad feeling” about the economy, he said in an email seen by Reuters last week.
In another email to Tesla employees last Friday, Musk said Tesla would reduce the number of salaried employees by a tenth, as the company had experienced “overstaffing in many areas.” However, he added that the number of hourly employees would increase.
Production at Tesla’s Shanghai plant was hit hard after China’s commercial hub began a two-month COVID-19 lockdown in late March.
Output will fall by more than a third this quarter from the previous one, surpassing Musk’s predictions.
