NEW YORK in CNNMoney -- Ford Motor announced Monday it will add 7,000 new hourly and salaried jobs in the United States by the end of 2012.

The announcement, made on the opening day of the Detroit auto show, said Ford (F, Fortune 500) is adding nearly 4,000 hourly jobs at several of its U.S. plants this year, including 1,800 at the Louisville Assembly Plant, where it plans to start building the new design of the Ford Escape crossover SUV later in the years.
The company has cut staff substantially since 2001. And the new workers will only replace a fraction of the employees lost to the recession. Ford had 61,000 U.S. employees at the end of 2010, according to a company spokeswoman. That's down from 76,000 at the end of 2007, and 163,000 employees 10 years ago.