Finland Times

German engineering giant Siemens AG announced Thursday it would cut another 4,500 jobs worldwide, aiming to improve the company's profitability and to be more competitive.

     Among the jobs to be cut, 2,200 are expected in Germany as part of company reorganization, according to Siemens, which had around 357,000 employees worldwide by the end of September 2014.

     This new round of job cuts will affect mainly the energy sector. Analysts said competition in the electricity generation market is getting stronger due to lower prices and reduced demand for gas turbines.

     "The power and gas division has to cope, among other things, with regulatory changes, massive price erosion, aggressive competitors and regional overcapacities," an official statement by the company noted.

     Siemens in February had already announced it would axe 7,800 jobs worldwide, including some 3,300 in Germany, in a 1-billion-euro (about 1.13 billion U.S. dollars) cost-saving measure. According to Thursday's announcement, the figure for jobs affected in Germany was reduced to about 2,900.

     In May last year, Siemens presented its Vision 2020 concept and announced its intention to focus its activities on the growth fields of electrification, automation and digitalization, and to considerably streamline its portfolio.