As the number of Coronavirus cases in the United States was accelerating and cities were prepping for lockdown, Tesla Motors founder tweeted that panic over the outbreak is "dumb." He then mocked panic buyers with a screenshot of toilet paper being sold for nearly $4,000.

The electric-vehicle and space entrepreneur doesn't seem to be bothered by the outbreak, and hiring at Tesla Motors is at its highest levels since we began tracking the company's job listings in 2016.

As of this week, Tesla Motors lists 3,200 openings on its recruiting websites. That matches its highest hiring levels since May 2018, when the company was scrambling to get its Model 3 out the door. 

This time around, Tesla is in the process of firing up factories in China and Germany and, soon, new plants for its highly anticipated Cybertruck. In tweets yesterday, Musk hinted that the Cybertruck factory will be in central USA and the Model Y will be produced on the east coast.

Tesla's Fremont plant is still the company's most in-demand location in terms of job listings, but the new Shanghai operation has seen massive growth in recent quarters.

As Tesla's new plants get up and running, we'll likely see its nascent Berlin operation open up a large swath of job listings along with wherever Musk and Co. decide to build the Cybertruck and Model Y. The company has already increased hiring for engineering, design, and manufacturing to their highest levels yet as it pushes to get more vehicles in the hands of customers.

About the Data:

Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales. 

Further Reading: 

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