DuPont and Dow to cut thousands of jobs

Resin suppliers DuPont and Dow Chemical are eliminating thousands of jobs as a result of reductions in global polymer demand. DuPont will eliminate 6,500 jobs worldwide, while Dow will cut employment for several thousand contract workers at a Texas location.

According to a DuPont press release, the company will shed 2,500 full-time employees and 4,000 contractors. Most of the full-time cuts will come from businesses that support the motor vehicle and construction markets in the US and Western Europe, the company said. The DuPont moves are expected to increase the firm’s pretax earnings by $730m and reduce working capital by $1bn. The contractor cuts will be made by the end of the year, with additional cuts in that area possible in 2009. “We have taken immediate and aggressive actions to maximize cash flow by reducing cost, working capital and capital expenditures in responses to current market challenges,” said DuPont chairman and CEO Charles Holliday.

 For Dow, “thousands” of the 4,000 contract workers that the firm employs in Freeport, Tex. will be let go. The Freeport facility is Dow’s largest integrated site, with 75 production plants covering 5,000 acres. More than 40 per cent of all Dow products sold in the U.S. are made in Freeport.

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