An expansion of Volkswagen’s plant in Chattanooga, which is under construction now, could create nearly 10,000 permanent jobs. That’s the finding of an economic impact study commissioned by the German automaker and completed by University of Tennessee professor Bill Fox.
He says there will be thousands of short-term jobs during the construction phase and then 2,000 new jobs inside the plant assembling a new SUV and staffing a new engineering center.
“Plus we also have suppliers and what’s called the multiplier effect, and this is when employees of VW go out and they shop in shopping centers and they go to grocery stores and they buy new houses. All of this creates new jobs throughout the economy.”
Fox’s research team completed two previous impact studies on Volkswagen’s Tennessee plant.
The SUV line is supposed to be complete next summer. A VW spokesman says he hopes the impact study “helps prove the return on investment” that the state will get. This year’s budget, signed into law by Gov. Bill Haslam, includes $166 million to help pay for the expansion.
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