The Workforce AI Index · Consumer Cyclical
General Motors (GM)
An automaker with hourly and salaried counts. Read October 1, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending 2025-12-31, filed 2026-01-27. Ranked 27 of the 39 Consumer Cyclical companies read so far, by the share within reach now: the sector.
The filing gives the workforce as hourly and salaried parts with percentages and counts its plants, so the manufacturing pattern rests on stated counts and only the finance arm is read by description.
The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
What follows from the reading
Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 15% now, 23% at the end of 2027, 26% at the end of 2028, 28% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 28% desk work, 20% people work and 52% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 73% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 22% becomes checking a model's work and 4% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.
Headcount
156,000 employees as of 2025-12-31 (sum of stated parts). The filing does not state a U.S. total; it states that substantially all of its hourly U.S. employees, approximately 47,000, are represented by unions, most by the UAW.
The filing: “At December 31, 2025, we employed approximately 88,000 (56%) hourly employees and approximately 68,000 (44%) salaried employees.”
The workforce as industry patterns
| Pattern | Share | Reason, from the filing |
|---|---|---|
| Motor Vehicle Manufacturing | 93% | By (a) for the parts and (c) for the rest: the filing states 88,000 hourly and 68,000 salaried employees and a network of 50 U.S. manufacturing plants and parts facilities including 11 vehicle assembly plants; an automaker's hourly plant workforce and its salaried engineering, sales and administrative staff are counted together in the motor vehicle manufacturing pattern, so nearly all of the workforce is read there. |
| Nondepository Credit Intermediation | 7% | By (c): GM Financial is reported as a segment that finances vehicles for customers and dealers, with no headcount stated, so a small share is read into the nondepository credit pattern by description. |
What the filing says about the workforce: Approximately 88,000 hourly (56%) and 68,000 salaried (44%) employees; substantially all hourly U.S. employees, about 47,000, are union-represented, about 30% of the total. The filing describes 50 U.S. manufacturing plants and parts facilities in 19 states, including 11 vehicle assembly plants.
Companies read with the same leading pattern
Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Motor Vehicle Manufacturing, largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
What the filing says about AI
10 sentences in the filing name AI. AI appears in the technology strategy (software, AI and vehicle platforms for driver assistance, autonomy and OnStar) and as an execution risk ('if we are unable to successfully integrate new technology, including AI'); the human capital section does not mention it.
- “Building on a century of innovation, we are leveraging software, hardware, artificial intelligence (AI), and sensors to produce safer, smarter, and more fuel efficient vehicles.”
- “The work spans advanced driver assistance and autonomy, connected vehicle platforms, and OnStar's evolution into an intelligent, always-on services layer, combining software, AI, and vehicle platforms to continuously improve the customer experience over time.”
- “To successfully execute our long-term strategy, we must continue to develop and commercialize new products and services, including products and services that are outside of our historically core ICE business, such as EVs and AV capabilities, software-enabled connected services, future features and services based on AI, and other new businesses.”
- “Similarly, our ability to execute on our strategic plans could also be adversely affected if we are unable to successfully integrate new technology, including AI, in a timely, cost-effective, compliant, and reasonable manner, or if the methods and processes we use to develop, deploy, or otherwise use such new technology are found to not be in compliance with rapidly evolving regulatory standards.”
- “While we expect our refocused AV strategy to be less capital intensive than the Cruise robotaxi plan, we expect that our AV and ADAS development activities will continue to require significant capital investments and remain subject to a variety of risks inherent with the development of new technologies, including our ability to continue to develop self-driving software and hardware; attract and...”
Headcount by filing year
As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.
| Period | Employees | Filed | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-12-31 | 68,000 | 2026-01-27 | 10-K |
| 2024-12-31 | 90,000 | 2025-01-28 | 10-K |
| 2023-12-31 | 76,000 | 2024-01-30 | 10-K |
| 2022-12-31 | 81,000 | 2023-01-31 | 10-K |
| 2021-12-31 | 74,000 | 2022-02-02 | 10-K |
| 2020-12-31 | 68,000 | 2021-02-10 | 10-K |
| 2019-12-31 | 69,000 | 2020-02-05 | 10-K |
| 2018-12-31 | 76,000 | 2019-02-06 | 10-K |
| 2017-12-31 | 77,000 | 2018-02-06 | 10-K |
| 2016-12-31 | 90,000 | 2017-02-07 | 10-K |
| 2015-12-31 | 85,000 | 2016-02-03 | 10-K |
| 2014-12-31 | 80,000 | 2015-02-04 | 10-K |
| 2013-12-31 | 77,000 | 2014-02-06 | 10-K |
| 2012-12-31 | 70,000 | 2013-02-15 | 10-K |
| 2011-12-31 | 67,000 | 2012-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2010-12-31 | 67,000 | 2011-03-01 | 10-K |
| 2009-12-31 | 66,000 | 2010-04-07 | 10-K |
Limits of this reading
- The total is the sum of the stated hourly and salaried parts, which the filing gives with percentages.
- The U.S. share is not stated as a total; the finance arm's share follows the business description (c).
Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0001467858-26-000013, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Questions about this company
- How much of General Motors's working time is within reach of AI?
- An estimated 15% now and 26% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five, from the workforce General Motors's own annual report describes and BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. It is an estimate with a stated method. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings, and it says nothing about what the company will do.
- How many people does General Motors employ?
- 156,000 as of December 31, 2025, as its annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025 states as the sum of the parts it gives.
- What kinds of work make up General Motors's workforce?
- Read from its annual report as a blend of 2 industry staffing patterns, the largest Motor Vehicle Manufacturing; by those patterns the work is about 28% desk work, 20% people work and 52% body work. Each share has a one-sentence reason on this page that can be checked against the filing.
- What does General Motors's annual report say about AI?
- 10 sentences in the filing name AI. They are counted and quoted on this page, never judged: a count says how much a filing talks about AI, not what the company does with it.
- How is this estimated?
- Claude Fable 5.1 read the annual report under the Index's written rubric (version 1) on October 1, 2026: the stated headcount, the share in the U.S. when stated, and the workforce as a blend of industry staffing patterns. The estimates are the site's industry estimates weighted by those shares, from O*NET tasks with estimated lengths and METR's measurements of how long a task AI models can finish. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Embed these figures on your site
A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.