After years of layoffs and downsizing, General Motors and Chrysler are hanging out the shingle for engineers and others-- 2,000 in all.

GM wants to hire 1,000 engineers and researchers in Michigan during the next two years to gain know-how into making more hybrid and electric cars, the Detroit News reports.

Chrysler said it will hire 1,000 engineers and others to create small and midsize vehicles in its partnership with Italy's Fiat. Chrysler is controlled by Fiat.

At GM, CEO Daniel Akerson announced the jobs at a factory where the arrival of the plug-in Chevrolet Volt was being noted. Dealers will start getting them this month.

At Chrysler, most of the new workers will be based at the company's Auburn Hills headquarters and technical center. Six out of 10 of the jobs will be on the payroll. The rest will be contract workers.

The News notes that the hiring news is not only good for Detroit's Big 3, but that suppliers have started hiring back workers as well.

Tens of thousands of autoworkers, executives and others were laid off during the recession.