Ford announces plan to hire 7,000 workers

Although the increase in workers boosts Ford’s hourly payroll by about 15 percent, the company employs less than half — 42,000 of 103,000 — the number it had about 10 years ago. 

Ford made aggressive early moves leading up to the recession to cut jobs, close assembly plants and refocus on higher-fuel-efficiency cars. The company didn’t accept any of the auto industry’s $86 billion in government funds used by Chrysler and GM. 

Some estimates show that car sales are expected to increase to 12.8 million vehicles this year and make a further move upward to 15 million in 2012 after selling 11.6 million cars last year. 

Last week, Ford and General Motors said they expect the auto industry to sell up to about 13.5 million vehicles this year. 

Ford earned $6.4 billion in profits last year, while GM showed $4.2 billion.