Hard pressed to find where they got this
"1 in 7 people" number from (I assure you I know more than 21 people), I am hard pressed to believe that statistic. So I did some research through google.
Granted my Numbers come from some pretty slanted sources for the sake of argument lets assume they are correct and all the employees they count are infact full time employees (not a 0.5 part time employees).
Lets start with Canada.
Now assuming the statistic "1 in 7" is the 'working population' it is wrong. The whole of Canada is not employed 1 in 7. More like 1 in 60 (population of Canada is 33,200,000). I found a site that claimed that 550,000 Canadians work in the auto industry.
For arguments sake I am not going to include the '102,000' people that work for dealerships because 550,000 seems to include them, and other sites I looked up put the number at 500,000 or less. I am considering the source. I'm also not including retirees because the burden will be on the government to look after them.
So, to shrink that number from 1 in 60 we have to shrink canada's total population to Canada's Working Population. 16,866,000 (approx). That Number becomes 1 in 30. So the truth is... 1 in 30 WORKING Canadians work for the auto industry (Assemblers, dealerships, part makers, and other spin-offs). I know one might argue that the other jobs reaching into transportation, financials and 'other' can't really be counted. While true and important, you can't argue that their jobs will be 'shift able' to other sectors.
In comparison, there are twice as many people (1 in 14) who work in education.
Now the US.
I looked less into this as it is not my country, but I'll list my sources best I can.
The population of the U.S. is 301,139,947. That includes about 11,200,000 estimated illegal immigrants (Wikipedia). So for arguments sake, I doubt that Jesus isn't working in Detroit. Many sources follow this articles's numbers of about the number of people employed in the industry. One video
claims that 770,000 retires (0:53) rely on the auto industry for pensions and 2,000,000 for health benefits. While you can't add those 2 numbers together because probably 90% of those 2 million are retirees. So I'm going to be generous with the US and count 1,200,000 of those people. Why do retirees get counted this time? US's total lack of health care. Of course that video is totally slanted and I can't find a source to back him/her up.
So, the total population (not counting illegals) put 1 in 85 people working for (relying solely on) the auto industry. Again, no where near 1 in 7. So lets shrink the US population and only include the work force. I found this article (old I'm sorry but the best I could find without digging through the census sites (CONFUSING!)) put the work force at about 138.5 million. Lets plug that in and we get 1 in 40.
I still can't find 1 in 7! Not close. Even adding the full number of people on health benefits in the US is only 1 in 27. Which is closer to Canada.
More arguments.
The loss of the Auto Industry would effect the defense industry:
False!
I am a huge Defense buff. I can tell you for a fact that no commercial parts are used in Military equipment. Even reaching to say that the Humvee is made by GM is in fact Complete lie.
In 1999, General Motors acquired the HUMMER brand worldwide and rebadged the original vehicle H1. In 2002, AM General began assembling the HUMMER H2 for GM in its new factory in Mishawaka, Ind. This vehicle was designed by and is marketed by General Motors. In 2006, production of the H1 ceased. Although GM acquired the HUMMER brand, they do not own any part of AM General.
Yup thats right. The humvee has no part in the big 3. The only part that affects national security is the financing to fight a war. If we had another WW2, then we'd see a need for those production lines to be converted. Otherwise, no tanks, no planes and no jeeps are currently being built for the Army. At best, the humvee 'leased' the engine & power train design off a big 3 company
The loss of jobs will cause economic decay:
False
While it would be significant. The North American Economy is very strong. We are a automotive country. I for years our countries have been imposing tariffs on foreign cars (of about 7%). While I can't find anything saying if this is, or is not in place anymore; for years we've stifled the competition while our own industry have ignored the consumers buying habits!
The auto industry has been protected for decades. In my opinion, if we opened up our borders and injected more competition into the market place, we could in fact replace half of these jobs that are lost.
In addition, they are saying the GDP loss would be 156 billion in the US alone in the first 3 years. Has anyone told the auto industry that the US GDP is 13.13 trillion (Canada at 1.178 trillion)? 3% (or more) of the GDP! To put this in perspective most governments spend 5% on their military alone!
Now this is where I'm going to give you my facts.
The truth is that the auto industry has been providing employment to the baby boomers for many-many years. As we all know the baby boomers are coming into retirement. 28% of the US work force and 36% of the Canadian Work force are baby boomers. If the auto industry collapses, you'll see a lot of these people hitting very hard times. Its not like most of them don't have a hard enough time getting by as it is. Medical expenses and such. Already, GM has publicly admitted that they'll be
eliminating health care coverage for retirees over 65
For a semi-socialist society such as Canada, that'll place more burden on government programs. I can't imagine what those American grandparents will have to do.
The auto industry likes to give you scare tactics. But I like to think more about the true trickle down effect. Most people losing there jobs past 'spin off' will be able to redirect their careers in new directions. Factory workers will work in factories, truck drivers will drive truck somewhere else and bankers will keep banking. But where you will see it is in unexpected places. As most auto worker probably makes enough to support 2 people, gives them more disposable income. Restaurant workers, electronic, DVDs, and other recreation areas will shrink. More people will look after their grandparents and less home nurses will be hired. The effect will be felt in strange ways. However, it will be rough, but it will not be the end.
Even including the recreation and what I'd consider '3rd degree employment' will fell it next it will not be severe. The North American will become a battlefield for foreign auto makers as they try to expand into the void that will be created. Give it 3-5 years for that frenzy to end and for new/old factories to open up.
It will be a shame that we won't get our plugin hybrids in the next 5-10 years and a lot of peoples nest eggs will vanish but the auto industry is painting a very incorrect and dark picture. We will survive. Things will have forever changed... but we will survive.
The number of 1 in 7 is grossly incorrect. Worst case scenario 1 in 20 maybe. Two members of my small family will maybe be without a job. But we will no where near feel it like they are suggesting we will.
===========
Bottom Line:
Employment numbers are actually more like 1 in 30 and 1 in 63.
Elderly will feel it the most
Expect a 15-20% drop in other seemingly unrelated work places.
Also, we will need to celebrate the return of your car tomorrow. I have a few things in mind