Short answer
General Motors had approximately 155,000 employees worldwide at December 31, 2025, according to its Form 10-K filed January 27, 2026: about 88,000 hourly and 68,000 salaried. About 94,000 work in the US, split evenly between salaried and hourly. By segment, GM North America has 119,000, GM International 28,000 and GM Financial 9,000. The total is down from 162,000 a year earlier and a peak of 167,000 in 2022.
- About 155,000 employees at December 31, 2025: 88,000 hourly (56%) and 68,000 salaried (44%).
- About 94,000 are in the US: 47,000 salaried and 47,000 hourly, almost all hourly staff union-represented.
- US salaried headcount fell from 58,000 in 2022 to 47,000 in 2025, after a 2023 voluntary separation program.
- The count excludes GM's joint ventures in China, which it accounts for as equity stakes.
- Revenue per employee was about $1.19 million in 2025 (our calculation).
On this page
This page is for sellers sizing General Motors as an account, auto industry analysts, and anyone who needs a citable headcount. Every figure is from GM's annual reports on Form 10-K, which give worldwide employment at December 31 by segment, with the US split into salaried and hourly staff.
General Motors employees by year
| Year (December 31) | Worldwide | GM North America | GM International | GM Financial | US salaried | US hourly | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 155,000 | 119,000 | 28,000 | 9,000 | 47,000 | 47,000 | 10-K filed January 27, 2026 |
| 2024 | 162,000 | 123,000 | 30,000 | 9,000 | 50,000 | 47,000 | 10-K filed January 28, 2025 |
| 2023 | 163,000 | 123,000 | 31,000 | 9,000 | 53,000 | 46,000 | 10-K filed January 30, 2024 |
| 2022 | 167,000 | 124,000 | 34,000 | 9,000 | 58,000 | 46,000 | 10-K filed January 31, 2023 |
| 2021 | 157,000 | 115,000 | 33,000 | 9,000 | 53,000 | 45,000 | 10-K filed February 2, 2022 |
| 2020 | 155,000 | 112,000 | 34,000 | 9,000 | 48,000 | 46,000 | 10-K filed February 10, 2021 |
| 2019 | 164,000 | 117,000 | 37,000 | 10,000 | 48,000 | 48,000 | 10-K filed February 5, 2020 |
| 2018 | 173,000 | 124,000 | 39,000 | 10,000 | 53,000 | 50,000 | 10-K filed February 6, 2019 |
GM reports these in thousands, so each figure is rounded to the nearest 1,000. Through 2024 the 10-K notes that GM North America includes Cruise, its self-driving unit; in 2025 GM folded Cruise's autonomous driving work into GM North America. The 2025 10-K gives the hourly and salaried totals as about 88,000 and 68,000, which add to 156,000 against the table's 155,000 because of rounding.
What the number includes
The 2025 10-K says: "At December 31, 2025, we employed approximately 88,000 (56%) hourly employees and approximately 68,000 (44%) salaried employees."
- All consolidated GM businesses: GM North America (vehicle design, manufacturing and sales in North America, plus the autonomous driving work it absorbed from Cruise), GM International (operations outside North America) and GM Financial, the lending arm.
- Not its China joint ventures. GM sells vehicles in China mainly through "equity ownership stakes in entities" under the Baojun, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and Wuling brands. Those companies' employees aren't GM employees.
- Not dealer staff. Chevrolet, GMC, Buick and Cadillac dealers are independent businesses.
- Unions: "substantially all of our hourly U.S. employees (approximately 47,000) were represented by unions," a majority by the UAW.
- Hourly share: 56% of the worldwide workforce, up from 52% in 2022 as salaried numbers fell.
What changed and why
- 2019, down 9,000. In November 2018 GM announced a plan "to transform our global workforce", including reducing salaried staff in 2019 and "25% fewer executives" (2018 10-K).
- 2020, down 9,000 more to 155,000. GM International shrank as GM wound down Holden's sales, design and engineering operations and sold its vehicle and powertrain plants in Thailand (2020 10-K).
- 2021 and 2022, up to 167,000. Almost all of the growth was in North America, where US salaried staff rose from 48,000 to 58,000. The 10-Ks don't break the increase down.
- 2023, down to 163,000. In March 2023 GM "announced a VSP [voluntary separation program] to accelerate attrition," recording $905 million of employee separation charges. US salaried headcount fell 5,000. GM also paused Cruise's US driverless operations that year.
- 2024, 162,000. GM recorded $200 million of restructuring charges for employee separations, mainly in North America, and closed its manufacturing operations in Colombia and Ecuador. In December 2024 it said it would stop funding Cruise's robotaxi development.
- 2025, down 7,000 to 155,000. GM began winding down Cruise's robotaxi operations in February 2025 and folded the autonomous driving teams into GM North America. It also recorded $7.9 billion of charges to realign its EV capacity "to expected consumer demand", which the 10-K says include supplier commercial settlements, contract cancellation fees and battery cell joint venture settlements. Separation costs that year were $87 million.
Revenue per employee
GM's 2025 total net sales and revenue was $185,019 million. Divided by 155,000 employees, that's about $1.19 million per employee (our calculation), slightly up from about $1.16 million in 2024 ($187,442 million / 162,000).
| Segment | 2025 revenue | Employees | Revenue per employee (our calculation) |
|---|---|---|---|
| GM North America | $154.3 billion | 119,000 | about $1.30 million |
| GM International | $13.4 billion | 28,000 | about $480,000 |
| GM Financial | $17.1 billion | 9,000 | about $1.90 million |
| Total | $185.0 billion | 155,000 | about $1.19 million |
The segments sell different things (vehicles in two regions, and loans and leases), so compare each one over time rather than with the others.
Selling to a company of GM's size
General guidance, not a description of GM's internal process.
- Two workforces, two buying patterns. For anything used on the plant floor, decisions sit with manufacturing and plant leadership, are tested in one plant and are shaped by the UAW contract. For the 47,000 US salaried staff in engineering, software, design and corporate roles, buying looks like any large enterprise: functional budgets, procurement, security review.
- Follow the restructuring. EV capacity changes, the Cruise wind-down and salaried cuts move budgets between teams. The 10-K and quarterly reports tell you which programs are growing and which are shrinking.
- Supplier relationships are their own world. Selling parts or materials into vehicles goes through GM's supplier qualification, which is separate from buying for GM's own operations.
- Segments run their own priorities. GM Financial buys like a lender, not a carmaker.
For research on accounts this size, see how to research an account, and our guide to manufacturing companies for the wider sector.
Next step: compare GM with Ford, Tesla and other automakers on our list of the largest auto companies.
Sources
- General Motors Company Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, General Motors Company, via SEC EDGAR, 27 January 2026
- General Motors Company Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, General Motors Company, via SEC EDGAR, 28 January 2025
- General Motors Company Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, General Motors Company, via SEC EDGAR, 30 January 2024
- General Motors Company Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, General Motors Company, via SEC EDGAR, 31 January 2023
- General Motors Company Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, General Motors Company, via SEC EDGAR, 2 February 2022
- General Motors Company Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, General Motors Company, via SEC EDGAR, 10 February 2021
- General Motors Company Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, General Motors Company, via SEC EDGAR, 5 February 2020
- General Motors Company Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, General Motors Company, via SEC EDGAR, 6 February 2019
Written by the Bebop team at Blackpearl Group. Published .
Questions people ask
How many employees does GM have in the US?
About 94,000 at December 31, 2025, according to GM's 2025 10-K: 47,000 salaried and 47,000 hourly. Substantially all of the hourly US employees are represented by unions, most by the UAW. The US total has ranged from 94,000 to 104,000 since 2018, peaking at the end of 2022 with 58,000 salaried and 46,000 hourly employees.
How many UAW workers does GM have?
GM's 2025 10-K says substantially all of its approximately 47,000 hourly US employees were represented by unions at December 31, 2025, a majority of them by the UAW. It doesn't give the UAW's exact share. GM's hourly workforce worldwide was about 88,000, including hourly staff in Canada, Mexico and other countries.
Has General Motors cut jobs?
Yes. Worldwide headcount fell from 167,000 at the end of 2022 to 155,000 at the end of 2025, according to GM's 10-Ks. The filings describe a 2023 voluntary separation program, 2024 restructuring charges for employee separations, plant closures in Colombia and Ecuador, and the 2025 wind-down of Cruise's robotaxi operations. Most of the decline was among US salaried staff.
Do GM's employee numbers include its China joint ventures?
No. GM's 10-K counts employees of its consolidated businesses: GM North America, GM International and GM Financial. In China, GM sells vehicles mainly through joint ventures in which it holds equity stakes, under the Baojun, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and Wuling brands, and those companies' employees aren't in GM's 155,000.
How many employees does GM Financial have?
About 9,000 at December 31, 2025, according to GM's 10-K, the same as every year since 2020 (it was 10,000 in 2018 and 2019). GM Financial, GM's captive lender, brought in $17.1 billion of revenue in 2025, or about $1.9 million per employee by our calculation.