The University of Michigan is now metro Detroit’s second largest employer behind Ford Motor Co., according to the Crain’s Detroit Business 2010 Book of Lists. A year ago, Crain’s listed U-M fourth behind the Big Three automakers.The Crain’s list showed the impact of a shrinking auto industry as Ford, General Motors Co. and Chrysler LLC cut jobs while U-M grew. Ford had 44,000 metro Detroit employees in 2009 (627 fewer than a year earlier), while U-M (including the University and U-M Healthy System) grew from 25,699 to 26,433 full-time jobs in metro Detroit, according to Crain’s.GM and Chrysler, which both entered and exited bankruptcy in 2009, both cut jobs at a much greater rate. GM went from 40,142 metro Detroit employees in 2008 to 20,800 in 2009 while Chrysler fell from 29,205 metro Detroit employees in 2008 to 19,882 in 2009. When looking at total worldwide employees, the auto makers remain much larger organizations with Ford employing 201,000 (down from 229,000 in 2008) and Chrysler employing 54,007, (down from 77,643 in 2009). GM had 265,885 worldwide employees in 2008 but Crain’s did not have an available total for GM’s 2009 worldwide employment. Crain’s estimated U-M’s worldwide total at 27,074, up from 26,298 in 2008.

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