Perlos to cut 500 jobs at Hungary plant in Q1 2009
BUDAPEST, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Finnish telecoms handset casing maker Perlos, part of Taiwan's Lite-On Technology (2301.TW) plans to lay off half of its 1,000-strong workforce at its Hungarian plant due to a drop in orders, local news agency MTI said on Thursday.
No one at the company was immediately available for comment.
MTI said, citing Perlos managing director Timo Rouvinen, that the lay-offs were planned for the first quarter of next year at the plant in Komarom, northwest of Budapest.
Perlos said its 160 temporary staff would be laid off sooner than the first quarter.
A series of heavy job cuts have been announced in the past few weeks in Hungary.
Last Friday over 3,000 jobs were cut in a single day, and some economists said unemployment could rise above 10 percent next year from 7.7 in August-October as the economy grinds to a halt.
Next year Hungary's economy is expected to slide into recession, which the government said could last for up to a year and a half. (Reporting by Krisztina Than; Editing by Greg Mahlich)
