Siemens to axe ‘thousands’ of jobs

FRANKFURT - Agence France-Presse

German engineering giant Siemens, which is increasingly feeling the effects of the economic downturn, is to slash “thousands” of jobs, the financial daily Boersen Zeitung reported yesterday.

A company spokesman declined to comment on the information when contacted by AFP, but said that Siemens was scheduled to hold its traditional annual management conference in October.

Last month, Siemens Chief Executive Officer Peter Loescher said the company was drawing up a programme to cut costs, boost productivity and efficiency.

While the program would not primarily be implemented by reducing the headcount, job cuts could not be ruled out completely, Loescher said at the time.

At the end of July, Siemens warned that it would be harder to achieve its annual profit targets, as the gloomy global economic mood weighs on orders, especially in the field of renewable energy.

It was the second time Siemens had been forced to revise down its targets this year.