German industrial giant Siemens is planning to axe thousands of jobs this fall in response to the spreading economic crisis in Europe, a newspaper reported Tuesday.
The decision may be made in October or November, said financial daily Boersen Zeitung, adding that the job-cutting plan is an austerity measure.
When contacted by Xinhua, Siemens spokesman Oliver Santen declined to comment on the report which didn't specify its source, but referred to a program announced late July by Siemens CEO Peter Loescher that will focus on "improving cost position, productivity, efficiency and processes."
"The program will be designed to meet the challenges of the market and the global economy, to further strengthen our competitiveness," said Santen, adding that the program will be rolled out "at our annual top management meeting in autumn."
At a news conference in July, Siemens reported a 23-percent drop of new orders in its third fiscal quarter due to customers' reluctance to invest during the crisis and said it might be hard to meet the annual profit goals.
The job-cutting report came amid fears that the German economy is losing its immunity from the spreading crisis in Europe.
Siemens has about 100,000 employees in Germany, where unemployment has been rising in recent months.
In the second quarter, the country's GDP growth slowed to 0.3 percent from 0.5 percent in the previous quarter. Some analysts expected that the second quarter would be the last period for Germany to enjoy economy growth.
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