Energy price rises lead to job cuts at Siemens

Siemens is set to cut 17,200 jobs in an attempt to withstand the current economic climate.

Siemens is set to cut 17,200 jobs in an attempt to withstand the current economic climate.

"Skyrocketing" energy prices and the price of natural resources has forced the company to make cuts to ensure it is not badly hit by the economic slowdown.

The job cuts are among some of the largest in Germany's industrial history and back up the claims made by the Financial Times in November last year.

The newspaper reported that 10,000 to 20,000 jobs would be cut at the firm and the losses follow cuts at BMW, Continental and Henkel.

Peter Loscher, the firm's chief executive officer, told employees that the move was the right one for the company, given the financial conditions.

Siemens has not made an official statement about the situation but the job losses are expected to be on the agenda at a special committee meeting of the company's supervisory board on July 7th.

The job losses are set to take place by 2010 and compulsory redundancies have not been ruled out by the electronics manufacturer.

Siemens is currently trying to cut back on costs after reporting a 68 per cent drop in second-quarter profit.