WASHINGTON—The National Association for Business Economics (NABE) predicts that the U.S. gross domestic product will grow 3.1 percent in 2015—up from a 2.2 percent expansion this year. The NABE also predicts that the jobless rate will come down to 5.4 percent by the end of next year.

MOBILE, AL—Although hiring won’t take place until early 2015, Airbus has posted its latest batch of hourly positions for its A320 assembly plant under construction here.

SAO PAULO, Brazil—A wind farm will power Honda’s automotive assembly plant here. Located hundreds of miles away, the farm has nine 3-megawatt turbines that are expected to generate all the electricity required for Honda’s annual production requirements.

CHATTANOOGA, TN—Volkswagen is thinking about introducing new variants of the Passat and CrossBlue SUV to the North American market, and it could assemble one or more of the vehicles in Chattanooga.

DUBLIN, VA—Volvo’s New River Valley assembly plant in is now completely powered by methane gas from nearby landfills.

CANONSBURG, PA—Universal Electric Corp., a manufacturer of power distribution systems, will invest $11.5 million to construct an 81,000-square-foot addition to its assembly plant here. The company plans to add 58 new jobs over the next three years.

FARMINGTON HILLS, MI—Alcoa Inc. says it has solved one of the biggest wrinkles automakers wrestle with when stamping aluminum body panels: formability. The company has developed a new manufacturing process that produces aluminum sheet that is 40 percent more formable than current aluminum alloys.

WASHINGTON—Nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased at a 2.3 percent annual rate during the third quarter of 2014, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today, as output increased 4.9 percent and hours worked increased 2.5 percent.

WATERTOWN TOWNSHIP, MI—Automotive supplier Kirchhoff Van-Rob Inc. will add at least 125 jobs after it opens its new $25 million assembly plant here next month.

VANCE, AL—The National Labor Relations Board ruled that Mercedes-Benz U.S. International must rescind a rule in its employee handbook prohibiting workers from talking about a union in work areas while not on work time.