Toyota May Cut Jobs for First Time in 59 Years

2008 was undoubtedly a bittersweet year for Toyota. After all, what else can you say about a year when you finally succeed in undisputedly becoming the world's biggest automaker while simultaneously posting your first operating loss in over 70 years? It looks as if Toyota won't have a problem categorizing 2009 as a success or a failure, though: reports are already emerging that Toyota will cut full-time jobs for the first time in almost 60 years.

Toyota has been slammed hard in its biggest markets-North America, the United Kingdom, and Japan-as all three struggle through what is being considered the worst economic recession since the Great Depression. Working hard to stave off more losses, Toyota is considering cutting more than 1,000 full-time jobs in North America and the United Kingdom.

According to Japan's Nikkei business paper, an unnamed senior Toyota official said the specifics of the cuts will likely be decided by the end of January. Jobs in other regions could also disappear if markets continue to stagnate. While the automaker has cut temporary workers, no full-time workers have been eliminated since 1950, when it cut 1,600 full-time jobs in Japan.

The Associated Press says Toyota employs about 36,000 full-time workers at its 7 North American plants, as well as 5,000 in the United Kingdom and almost 70,000 in Japan. The world's largest automaker is currently undergoing an upper-management shuffle. Akio Toyoda, grandson of the company's founder, took over as president of the Japanese company on Tuesday.

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