Cheap mortgages deter workers from relocating for $250,000 jobs

Then there’s the matter of pay. The average annual pay for an automotive plant manager in the Southeastern U.S. can run from $150,000 to $250,000 in salary, bonuses and other perks, according to Jones. Other managers can earn $120,000 to $130,000 annually, and senior-level managers can make more than $160,000.

But salaries in Michigan for all manager roles are typically around 15% to 20% higher than for comparable roles in the South, she said.

The problem of attracting talent to the U.S. South is being felt most acutely by automakers and suppliers, who are building anew or expanding massive campuses across the region. Companies like Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Corp. and Ford Motor Co. have steered billions of dollars of electric-vehicle-related incentives into building or expanding manufacturing facilities.

Automakers announced $133 billion in EV-related investment alone in the United States between 2018 and 2023 — more than half of which went to Southern states, according to the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The investments have translated into new or expanded electric vehicle and other automotive plants across the region.

To fill entry-level positions at these facilities, recruiters have found local workers. But hiring experienced senior and mid-level managers in the region has been a much steeper challenge.

So they’ve turned to the Midwest, said Alan Amici, the president and chief executive of the Center for Automotive Research.

“You’re going to fish in the pond that has the fish, and the experienced people are generally going to be in the Midwest,” he said.

Michigan led the nation in 2022 with 182,256 motor vehicle and parts manufacturing jobs, versus 28,534 in Georgia, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. There were 1.5 times more automotive jobs in the Great Lakes than the Southeast, federal data show.

But while automotive employment in the Great Lakes has increased by 6% since 2015, the number of all motor vehicle and parts manufacturing jobs in the Southeast has increased by 13% during that time, according to Bureau of Economic Analysis data.

Brad Holden, co-founder of search firm Holden Richardson in Austin, started a new unit specifically to help clients looking for mid-level managers, especially to work at the factory level.

Most of the plant management jobs pay at least $200,000 and the automakers are willing to pay $30,000 or $40,000 more than suppliers, he said.

“The demand is really high. It drives up cost and competition,” Holden said.

—With assistance from David Welch and Alex Tanzi.