Ford to cut 7,000 jobs globally this year

Anca Alexe 21/05/2019 | 08:03

US auto maker Ford has announced that it would be laying off 10 percent of its global white collar workforce by August 2019, as part of its restructuring effort. A total of 7,000 jobs will be eliminated, and would save the company about USD 600 million per year, CNBC reports.

About 2,300 of the job cuts will be in the United States, while the rest will be overseas. Ford had around 199,000 employees across the world last year. Its factory in Romania has more than 4,500 workers and is looking to hire more.

These layoffs won’t impact Ford’s hourly factory workers, but about 20 percent of upper-level management jobs will be eliminated. The job cuts include voluntary buyouts and involuntary layoffs.

“To succeed in our competitive industry, and position Ford to win in a fast-changing future, we must reduce bureaucracy, empower managers, speed decision making, focus on the most valuable work, and cut costs,” CEO Jim Hackett said in a letter sent to all employees.

Ford had announced earlier this year that it was planning to cut its workforce in Europe as it was under pressure to restructure its business on the continent. A company spokesman said Monday that there is overlap between the job cuts announced Monday and the various restructuring announcements the company has made in the past, though he would not specify how many job cuts overlapped.