“His statement, ‘No more no hires without my approval’ is sort of a sign to everyone: Let’s be careful, do things the right way. He believes this year is still going to be a tough year,” said Robert Lutts, president of Cabot Wealth Management, which manages $1 billion in assets and owns Tesla shares.
Musk said in May the global economy was going to be “difficult” for the next 12 months.
Tesla added 29,000 full-time workers in 2022, bringing its total global workforce to almost 128,000. That compares to 173,000 for Ford Motor Co. and 167,000 for General Motors.
Musk’s call to limit new hiring follows the elimination of tens of thousands of jobs this year by tech heavyweights including Meta Platforms, Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon.
Among 17 categories on Tesla’s websites, Manufacturing, Engineering & Information Technology and Vehicle Service positions account for over half of all job ads. Ads in Autopilot & Robotics, a key part of Musk’s vision for Tesla, are at 94, around the highest since Reuters began tracking the data.
Tesla tweeted in April it received 3.6 million job applications last year.
