from Challenger Gray and Christmas
This past week, Toshiba Corporation announced 7,000 job cuts as part of their recovery strategy, reorganizing their energy segments in the U.S. and U.K. Last year, they sold their most valuable commodity, the world’s second-best memory chip, to Bain Capital.
Problems continued for Toshiba despite moves to offload their major assets. Among the job cuts, Toshiba will dissolve its British nuclear power unit, NuGen, and sell its U.S. natural gas business. Shares rose 12.7 percent following the announcement. Toshiba says the five-year restructuring plan will refocus the company on energy storage and semiconductors in various industries.
“It remains to be seen how this reorganization will impact U.S. operations. Tech has been a large job-cutter this year. Industries like Tech and Energy are experiencing disruptions, causing companies to develop new technologies to meet consumer and investor demand,” said Andrew Challenger, Vice President of global outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
Toshiba had 27,000 employees in its Energy Systems & Solutions segment, according to its 2017 Annual Report, and roughly 140,000 jobs worldwide.
While it is unknown how many U.S. cuts may occur due to Toshiba’s announcement, companies in the Technology Sector, categorized as Computer, Electronics, and Telecommunications, have announced 81,216 job cuts this year, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., which tracks announced job cuts that occur in the U.S. It is 140 percent higher than the 33,833 technology job cuts announced through October last year.
2018*
2017
2016
Computer
9,634
19,417
66,821
Electronics
12,064
4,868
9,078
Telecommunications
59,518
14,223
20,118
Total
81,216
38,508
96,017
*Through October
Source: Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. ©
