French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde announced Monday that 45,000 people lost their jobs in France in December 2008. She also said that France "will certainly be in recession at some point or another."
As the global economic slowdown hits Japan's high-tech giants hard, electronics-maker NEC Corp. announced it would cut 20,000 or more jobs shortly after the group said it expects a net loss of 3.2 billion dollars in the current financial year.
Japan's industrial production plummeted at the fastest pace on record in December, setting the unemployment rate at a three-year high while consumer spending has slumped, according to Japanese government figures.
Following a loss of 133 million dollars in the fourth quarter of 2008, the US photography giant Kodak announced that it will have to slash up to 4,500 jobs to face the global recession, representing over 14 % of its global workforce.
US aerospace giant Boeing said it will slash 10,000 jobs in the coming years in light of the weakining global economy. Earlier, the company posted a loss of $56 million in the fourth quarter.
A statement from the UN's International Labour Organisation warns that two years of global financial turmoil could leave over 50 million more people unemployed by the end of 2009 "if the situation continues to deteriorate".
Sergio Marchionne, head of Italy's flagship carmaker Fiat, urged the Italian government to take urgent measures to help the car industry or face the loss of up to 60,000 jobs as sales dropped 60% from last year.
The worsening global recession claimed at least 85,000 jobs across the world in just one day, as corporate giants in sectors ranging from banking to electronics and construction raced to cut costs amid a slump in sales.
The chief executive of Dutch bank and insurance group ING, Michel Tilmant, resigned on Monday as the company announced it would shed 7,000 jobs worldwide this year.
Dutch electronics giant Philips has announced 6,000 job cuts worldwide after it suffered a net loss of €186 million ($242 million dollars) for 2008, following a fourth-quarter loss of €1.47 billion.
