Automobile manufacturer Ford on Tuesday announced that it will lay off 3,800 employees in Europe by 2025. Of these, 2,300 employees will be laid off in Germany, 1,300 in the United Kingdom and 200 in other countries.
Ford said that the decision is part of the company’s response to rapidly changing market conditions and the rise of electric vehicle competitors in the automobile sector.
Several companies in the technology and online services sectors have also laid off thousands of workers over the last few months amid concerns about a global recession.
Social media company Twitter had laid off 50% of its workers across the world in November while Meta fired 11,000 employees in the same month. In November, online retail giant Amazon had also announced 10,000 layoffs.
On January 5, the e-commerce company had announced it will lay off more than 18,000 employees. On January 18, technology company Microsoft laid off 10,000 of its employees. On February 8, online messaging platform Zoom Video Communications said it will remove 1,300 persons from its staff. The next day, Disney also said that it will lay off 7,000 employees.
On Tuesday, Ford said that Europe is a highly competitive region and is facing significant economic and geo-political headwinds. The company said the aim behind the layoffs was to restructure its operations to create a “leaner and more cost-competitive structure”.
“These are difficult decisions, not taken lightly,” said Martin Sander, General Manager of Ford Modele in Europe. “We recognize the uncertainty it creates for our team, and I assure them we will be offering them our full support in the months ahead.”
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