GM said 19,000 of its 73,000 hourly workers have signed up for buyouts and retirement offers. Workers will be expected to leave by July.

While the number leaving is far higher than that of a similar program at Ford Motor Co. earlier this year, it is a bit below the number GM targeted under its special attrition program offers, also called the SAP.

"We had hoped that 20-25,000 would take the SAP at GM - setting up at least 12,000 hires this fall," said Sean McAlinden, chief economist at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich. "I think GM assumed this also. So GM is much closer to its target than Ford."

Ford saw about 4,200 take its offers, but he said, had hoped to entice 10,000 hourly workers to leave.

Both automakers had hoped to use the buyout and retirement offers to move their older workers off the payrolls. Both automakers say they have more workers than they need given the growing competition and their shrinking market shares in the United States.

Courtesy of TheOlympian.com