:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-2238210705-164ac51d07624ce49cdcd7201c781f4a.jpg "Nestle Is the Latest Big Employer to Plan Thousands of White-Collar Layoffs")
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Key Takeaways
- Nestle on Thursday offered the latest example of a big employer looking to save money by streamlining its white-collar workforce.
- The company didn’t specify how many of the cuts it planned over the next two years would come in the U.S., which recently accounted for 15% of its total headcount.
White-collar employment is taking another hit.
Global food giant Nestle on Thursday said that, as part of a cost-savings push, it would cut about 12,000 white-collar positions.The company in a press release said the cuts would be “across functions and geographies.” It reported 277,000 employees worldwide in its last annual report, about half of them non-factory, with some 15% in North America.
“The world is changing, and Nestlé needs to change faster,” CEO Philipp Navratil said in a statement. “This will include making hard but necessary decisions to reduce headcount over the next two years.”
Why This News Matters
Big tech companies aren’t the only ones cutting white-collar jobs, as today’s news from global food giant Nestle illustrates. Economists have several thoughts about what’s behind the cuts, including general economic concern and AI. In the meantime, one economist sees the U.S. job market as running in “low gear.”
The company in an email said that “we are not in a position to give specific numbers or plans for the U.S.” Nestle’s shares rose in European trading.
Big employers are increasingly cutting into their white-collar workforces, with some commentators discussing a “white-collar recession.” Many of those cuts have come at large, high-profile tech companies, including some Magnificent 7 giants.
Economists have offered several reasons, among them a sense that AI will offer opportunities to cut costs and streamline operations. Broader economic wariness, including concerns about shifts in tariff policy that have complicated planning, are also seen as culprits.
U.S. professional employment was little changed year-over-year in August, according to government data; it’s fallen over the past 12 months as total nonfarm employment has risen. (Due to the ongoing government shutdown, August is the last month for which numbers are available.)
The U.S. job market is “running in low fire, low hire, low gear this fall,” Comerica Bank Chief Economist Bill Adams wrote earlier this month.
