20 leading manufacturers cut 87,000 jobs in 6 months

20 leading Japanese manufacturers including Panasonic Corp and Sony Corp slashed a total of around 87,000 jobs at home and abroad in six months according to a data compiled by Kyodo News.     

The 20 companies had a total of 2,858,000 employees on a consolidated basis till the end of March, up 0.4 per cent from year earlier but down 3.0 per cent from the end of September.     

Panasonic cut down around 21,000 jobs, the largest among the 20 manufacturers, followed by Sony with a workforce reduction of about 14,000.     

Personnel cutbacks were more noticeable in the electric and electronic equipment sector, which has been suffering from declining global demand and falling prices.     

NEC Corp cut its workforce by about 13,000 and is planning to reduce a further 7,000 or more jobs.     

In contrast, automakers carried out moderate cuts especially in Japan. Toyota Motor Corp attributed its downsized workforce to the mandatory retirement of baby boomers while Nissan Motor Co still has not made any cuts though it announced last year to slash its workforce by 20,000.     

Steelmakers and chemical companies also implemented moderate cutbacks, mainly through natural attrition.     

However three companies — Bridgestone Corp, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd and Hitachi Ltd showed an increase in employee enrolls.