Ford Motor Co. is bringing new jobs to the U.S. in a big way. For the 2013 calendar year, the automaker will add 2,200 salaried jobs, the most white-collar hiring the automaker has undertaken in over a decade. Jobs will range from the areas of product development, manufacturing and information technology.

Ford offers full-time, benefited positions

Ford concluded 2012 with approximately 28,000 salaried North American workers. All of the jobs the automaker plans to add in 2013 will be full-time with benefits, rather than agency or contract. While the locations of the new jobs has not been disclosed, company spokesman Todd Nissen noted that “a significant number will be in southeast Michigan.”

Details of all jobs available will be published at the Ford Careers website, www.careers.ford.com.

Ford to invest $773 million by 2015

In December, the Detroit Free Press reported that Ford would create 2,350 hourly jobs and funnel $773 million into six different production plants in southeast Michigan by 2015. As part of the 2011 United Auto Workers contract, Ford promised to create 12,000 hourly jobs and invest $6.2 billion in U.S. plants by 2015.

It’s all part of a move to get talented employees into key areas of the automaker’s business, noted Joe Hinrichs, Ford president of the Americas. That the company is doubling its quarterly dividend to 10 cents per share (to $13.83, Ford’s highest close since July 8, 2011) is no surprise, in light of the hiring spree.

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Dividends from rising stock will be used to calculate profit-sharing for hourly employees, as well as bonuses for salaried workers. On average last year, 40,600 UAW member employees received $5,000 each in Ford’s profit-sharing program. Approximately 20,000 salaried workers received bonuses and raises for the first time since 2008, before the financial crisis that forced Ford to shed tens of thousands of jobs.

Ford sales and job creation on the rise

Thanks to a 13.4 percent increase in U.S. new car sales in 2012 (up to 14.49 million units), Ford was able to create over 8,100 salaried and hourly jobs. Of those, approximately 1,000 were jobs brought back to the U.S. from Japan and Mexico.

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