SKorea's Samsung Electronics sheds 1,600 jobs

0 Comments | AFP, November, 2007

SEOUL (AFP) — South Korea's Samsung Electronics, the world's largest producer of memory chips, has shed more than 1,600 jobs this year -- the first fall in its labour force for five years, figures showed Sunday.

Data reported to financial authorities show the number of Samsung employees was 85,269 in September, down 1,630 or 1.9 percent from the 86,899 reported six months earlier.

The downsizing is the first at Samsung Electronics since 2002, when the company cut about 700 employees, Yonhap news agency said, citing Financial Supervisory Service data.

The number of executives has also dropped from 836 to 821 this year.

Yonhap said the cut was a prelude to a "full-scale corporate restructuring" at Samsung Electronics, which is suffering from falling...