IKEA needs to cut more jobs

• Source: Xinhua
• [11:15 July 08 2009]
• Comments

Swedish furniture retailing giant IKEA's founder Ingvar Kamprad called for more jobs cut in the company recently, according to local media reports on Tuesday.

"We need to reduce our personnel further, especially within manufacturing and logistics. It's both about adjusting to sales which are well below what we budgeted for and becoming more effective," Kamprad was quoted by the Swedish electronic newspaper The Local.

"The sales were 7 percent below what the company had budgeted for. That corresponds to 8 billion kronor (about 1 billion US dollars) on an annual basis which we have to adjust to," he said, adding that the company would hire a few thousand people to work at its 14 new stores planned to open worldwide this year.

IKEA has already made 5,000 employees redundant around the world. In Sweden, IKEA has already cut 420 positions, reported The Local.

The 83-year-old Kamprad set up IKEA in 1943 as a teenager.