LIVONIA – The expanding auto industry will need to add about 190,000 jobs by 2015, most in the parts sector, and the majority will be employed in Michigan.

The news came Tuesday during a conference hosted by the Center for Automotive Research. U.S. auto employment is about 590,000 including 130,000 in Michigan, said Kristin Dziczek, the center’s labor expert. Employment will grow to about 756,800 in four years, she predicted.

About 52 percent of U.S. autoworkers are in Michigan, which will increase to two-thirds by 2015, Dziczek said in an analysis of the labor agreements between the United Auto Workers and General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group LLC.

Next year, the center estimates that U.S. auto employment will increase by 60,000. But Dziczek said about 30,000 additional jobs are for GM, Ford and Chrysler, which are expected to employ about 201,000 in the United States in four years, including 135,000 in Michigan.

Suppliers will need about 150,000 workers to handle demand if annual U.S. sales return to 15 million in four years, the center said.

Top suppliers are operating at 90 percent capacity already, and shortages in production are looming, said David Andrea, vice president of the Original Equipment Suppliers Association. There also will be an increase of 12,000 salaried workers in the industry, but with a twist.

“Salaried labor costs could exceed hourly next year ? a real flip-flop,” said Sean McAlinden, CAR’s chief economist.

Detroit’s labor costs ? wages and benefits ? were $78 an hour on average in 2007, said labor consultant Art Schwartz.

Today, Ford is at $58 an hour in the U.S.; GM, $56; Toyota Motor Corp., $55; Chrysler, $52; Honda Motor Co., $50; Nissan Motor Co., $47; Hyundai Motor Co., $44; and Volkswagen AG, $38, according to CAR’s figures.

Four years from now, those figures won’t edge much higher. The projections are Ford at $61 an hour in total costs; GM, $60; Toyota, $56; Chrysler, $54; Honda, $52; Nissan, $49; Hyundai, $46; and Volkswagen, at $40.

Sympathy for Japanese automakers hit by earthquake, tsunami and floods eliminated Toyota, Honda and Nissan as targets, Schwartz said.

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