Siemens job cuts to hit 15,000 within a year

Industry, infrastructure and cities are segments targeted by new CEO

September 30, 2013

Siemens has announced it will have cut 15,000 jobs by this time next year as part of a massive restructuring plan. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday, Sept. 30 that Siemens will focus its cuts on the industry sector and cities and industry sector. About 5,000 of the job cuts will take place in Germany.

"The overall figure for job cuts world-wide is now 15,000 by the end of the 2014 business year. About half of those cuts have already been executed since the start of the program," The Journal quoted a Siemens spokesman as saying. The spokesman told the Journal that about 7,500 jobs already have been eliminated.

Bloomberg.com reported Monday that Siemens’ profit margins were behind those of industry rivals ABB and General Electric, and that new Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser was expected to bring those profit margins up to those levels.