Automaker Daimler lays off 500 workers in Brazil

Daimler unit MercedesBenz do Brasil announced that it laid off 500 workers from its factory in metropolitan Sao Paulo amid falling sales of commercial motor vehicles in Brazil.

To bring production into line with demand, Mercedes also granted a twoweek paid furlough to all production workers at the Sao Bernardo do Campo plant, where the company says another 1,750 positions need to be eliminated.

MercedesBenz do Brasil said the measures were necessary “to deal with an unfavorable economic scenario” characterized by negligible growth, accelerating inflation and interest rates at their highest level in six years.

The organization representing Brazil’s automakers said earlier this month that its members are still looking to shed jobs even after eliminating thousands of positions through layoffs and early retirements.

“We adjusted our workforce, basically, through incentives to voluntary retirement but, even with those cuts we still have excess personnel,” Luis Moan, president of the National Association of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, or Anfavea, said at a press conference.

Anfavea estimates that Brazilian auto manufacturers have reduced their workforce by 9.5 percent this year, from 144,200 employees in December to 139,600 in April.

The Brazilian auto sector employed 154,200 people in April 2014.

Output at Brazil’s auto plants totaled 881,774 units during the first four months of this year, a 17.5 percent drop from the same period in 2014.