Nikkei: Sanyo to cut 500 full-time jobs

January 5, 2009
By Ken Worsley

In our post covering Prime Minister Aso Taro’s New Year’s announcement that Japan would be the first nation to emerge from the global recession, it was mentioned that the Nikkei had recently predicted that job losses would soon start spilling over from the ranks of part-time workers to full-timers.

Tuseday’s edition of the Nikkei confirms that previous report, and also what Adamu had to say on the comment thread for that post, in an article entitled Sanyo To Ax 500 Full-Time Jobs In Japan By March-End:

Sanyo Electric Co. has decided to cut about 500 permanent jobs in Japan by the end of March as it prepares to come under the umbrella of Panasonic Corp. this spring.

Sanyo, which has some 20,000 permanent employees nationwide, will begin accepting applications for an early retirement program as soon as this month. Including nonpermanent workers, the cutbacks may total 1,000 positions.

Sanyo, which suffered heavy losses in financial 2005 and 2006 before showing a slight recovery in 2007, expects to see a 34% fall in operating profit when 2008 numbers are finalized. The firm apparently intends to downsize the workforce in its semiconductor and household appliance divisions, while many employees will also be transferred to solar cell and rechargeable battery operations.

In related news, we’ve been hearing much recently that alternative energies and “green” technologies will be the hot investment sectors for 2009. Little, if any, of the contrartian viewpoint on this issue has hit the press yet.

Filed Under Business, Technology