All things being equal, the odds of Eric Gilkey landing a job at Nissan's sprawling new assembly plant are a slim 1-in-15. It's just that Gilkey must compete with the 61,000 others who have applied for one of 4,000 well-paying positions the plant must fill by the end of the year. Nissan North America will open the first phase of its $1.5 billion assembly plant in May. Last year, the state lost a record number of manufacturers: 103 closed their doors taking 10,238 jobs with them. The state, as part of a $695 million incentive package to Nissan, is paying $23.5 million for its worker training.So the Nissan plant is heavily subsidized by the state, hoping to recoup less than 40% of the jobs lost last year.