US electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla has cancelled three online recruitment events scheduled in China this month, without stating a reason.
The move follows comments by chief executive Elon Musk threatening job cuts at Tesla, saying the company was “overstaffed” in some areas.
However, Musk had not commented specifically on staffing in China, which made more than half of its EVs worldwide and contributed a quarter of its revenue in 2021.
The company cancelled the three events for positions in sales, research and development and its supply chain that were originally scheduled for June 16, 23 and 30, respectively.
The notifications were issued through the Chinese messaging app WeChat, but Tesla did not provide any details or respond to a Reuters request for comment on Friday.
Tesla Smart Manufacturing Jobs
Notification of a June 9 event to recruit staff for “smart manufacturing” roles was not visible and it was not immediately clear it had been held as planned.
The China operation is still allowing résumé submission for more than 1,000 openings posted on the social media platform, such as aerodynamics engineers, supply chain managers, store managers, factory supervisors and workers.
In an email to employees on Friday, Musk said Tesla would reduce its salaried headcount by a tenth, as it had become “overstaffed in many areas”, but added that the hourly headcount would increase.
Musk had a “super bad feeling” about the economy, he said in an email seen by Reuters last week.
Production at Tesla’s Shanghai plant was badly hit after the Chinese commercial hub began a two-month Covid-19 lockdown late in March.
- Reuters, with additional editing by George Russell
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