Tennessee Seeing Increase In Layoffs, Specifically In Automotive Industry

Image Credit: Tenneco LLC / Facebook

The Tennessee Conservative Staff –

More Tennesseans will find themselves without a job as Michigan-based automotive parts maker Tenneco announces that they will be cutting more jobs.

Tenneco announced previously that 349 jobs would be cut between December 2024 and December 2025. Recently, 82 employees were let go from the company’s manufacturing plant in Spring Hill. This is approximately 41% of the workers in that town.

25 other employees were let go in June in Dekalb County, and another 242 were released in Sevier County between December 2024 and March 2025.

In a statement to the Tennessean, a company spokesperson said, “The automotive industry is facing an increasingly challenging economic environment globally and we must constantly evaluate our operations to match market conditions. Unfortunately, these decisions can affect valued employees. We are committed to supporting those impacted during this transition including severance and outplacement assistance.”

Those layoffs were just reported to the state on September 5, nearly 9 months after the company was supposed to report that information. While Spring Hill leaders and employees were told in advance, companies that are enacting layoffs are required to notify the Department of Labor at least 60 days before those occur. In this case, Tenneco states that they realized on August 26 that those notices were not sent to the state.

According to Department of Labor Chief Communications Officer Chris Cannon, the law does not provide the state with any method for serving consequences to those companies. 

Layoffs have been abundant in Tennessee, particularly in the automotive industry. Nissan announced that they would be cutting 1500 jobs in Tennessee and Mississippi in 2025. 

General Motors also announced recently that they would be “temporarily laying off” approximately 700 people in Spring Hill as they make plans to slow production of their electric vehicles. Those layoffs are planned for 2026.