Aetna to Cut 4,800 Jobs by End of ’93

Aetna Life & Casualty Co. said Monday that it will cut about 4,800 jobs, or 10% of its work force, by the end of 1993 to reduce costs and boost profit.

The company, the nation’s third-largest insurer, also said it is taking a pretax charge of $145 million against this year’s second-quarter earnings to cover severance, benefits and related costs.

Aetna said the program is expected to produce pretax savings of about $200 million annually after it is fully implemented.

On Wall Street, Aetna shares fell 37.5 cents a share to $41.375 Monday.

Analysts said Aetna was forced to cut costs because of weakness in the property-casualty business and lower investment earnings. Its investment portfolio, dominated by bonds, no longer offsets losses for claims payouts.