Family Life

01.29.09 | FL News Team

Kodak is announcing it is going to cut between 35-hundred and 45-hundred jobs this year. That is 14 to 18-percent of its workforce. The 129 year old photopgrahy company posted $137-million in 4th quarter losses. That amounts to just over 50 cents a share.

The latest cuts at Kodak trim the company's ranks just under 20-thousand employees worldwide, a number not seen since the Great Depression. Despite the current gloom, Kodak is predicting a revenue rise of 5-percent a year through 2011. It also predicts its operating profit will triple to 1-billion dollars.

Kodak's comes at a time when a UN angecy says worldwide job losses could range from 30-million to 51-million by the end of this year. The International Labor Organization's worst-case figure would put the global unemployment rate at just over seven-percent, compared to six-percent in 2008. The figures illustrate how the economic downturn has sparked global employment problems.

Caterpillar, Texas Instruments and insurer ING are just a few of the major companies that are slashing thousands of jobs as the economic downturn continues. The UN agency said government-funded infrastructure projects could help create jobs until the outlook for the private sector begins improving. The report also urged governments to extend unemployment benefits and health insurance programs to those who are jobless.