Health care giant Johnson & Johnson announced Tuesday that it would eliminate up to 8,000 jobs worldwide, or 7% of its workforce, as a cost-savings measure, according to CNN.
Many of the cuts will come from management levels as the company revises its corporate structure. As a result, Johnson & Johnson expects to save between $800 million and $900 million this year.
Johnson & Johnson manufacturers household health and beauty products, like soaps and mouthwash, along with pharmaceuticals and medical devices. The recession has impacted both sides of J&J's business. The layoffs come in a tough economic time as the company strives to remain profitable and avoid the possibility of bankruptcy.
The majority of the job cuts will occur outside of the U.S., according to CEO Bill Weldon, and will occur across all aspects of the business.
Johnson & Johnson's restructuring has been occurring over the past few years, as it attempts to fight off competing drug manufacturers and generic versions of its own drugs. In July, 2008, J&J cut 4% of its workforce. In April, 2009, about 900 U.S. sales jobs were eliminated.
Tags: johnson & johnson, mass layoffs, Unemployment
This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 11:19 am and is filed under Finance 101: Secure Your Future. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Just imagine 8,000 people without jobs. We just hope that the economy will be back on it’s good health.