Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp.'s North American plants, stalled by parts shortages a year ago, are leading an industrywide assembly surge buoying cities from the Midwest to the Deep South amid a languid U.S. economy.
In Tupelo, Mississippi, 30 km from Toyota's new Blue Springs plant, Elvis Presley's birthplace has seen its jobless rate drop to 8 percent with the start of Corolla production last year from 12.5 percent previously, said Mayor Jack Reed Jr. The arrival of the plant and parts makers helped the city of 35,000 rebound from furniture-making jobs lost to China, he said.
"Both unemployment and revenues have been affected by Toyota," Reed said, adding that sales-tax collections have increased 6.4 percent this year. "It's a great thing when you get people back employed; when instead of using a food pantry now they volunteer at one."