- The United States is stepping up to assist workers affected by layoffs at Tesla’s Gigafactory in Austin.
- The Department of Labor has awarded Texas more than $1 million to provide employment and retraining services for impacted employees.
- A WARN notice suggested 2,688 people were impacted by the job cuts.
The U.S. Department of Labor has awarded Texas more than $1 million to aid employees affected by mass layoffs at the Tesla Gigafactory in Austin. The move follows a WARN notice in April, which revealed the automaker was laying off 2,688 people.
The government says the funds will be used to provide employment and training services for impacted workers. The Department of Labor went on to note the money “allows the state to provide retraining and skills development for dislocated workers in Bastrop, Blanco, Burnet, Caldwell, Fayette, Hays, Lee, Llano, Travis and Williamson counties.”
More: Tesla Will Eliminate Nearly 2,700 Jobs In Texas
The award is being billed as the “first increment” of a National Dislocated Worker Grant. Additional funds are available and the total could eventually increase to $3,230,050.
The layoffs followed a disappointing first quarter where deliveries fell to 386,810 units. That was a significant drop from the first quarter of 2023, when Tesla made 422,875 deliveries.
The disappointing result pushed the automaker to take drastic action and an internal memo revealed they were cutting more than 10% of its workforce. At the time, CNBC noted 2,266 employees in Fremont, California were also being laid off while small cuts were also occurring at various other locations.
Fast forward to today and Tesla is still dealing with significant headwinds. Second quarter deliveries fell from 466,140 units in 2023 to 443,956 units this year as the company cited a “difficult operating environment.”
That being said, Tesla achieved “record quarterly revenues” and “saw a sequential rebound in vehicle deliveries … as overall consumer sentiment improved.” However, the average selling price for S3XY vehicles fell as did deliveries of them.
