ArcelorMittal plans to cut 9,000 jobs worldwide

LUXEMBOURG: Steel-making giant ArcelorMittal said on Thursday that it might slash up to 9,000 jobs across the group worldwide through voluntary redundancies.

The company said in a statement that the measures targetted sales and administrative employees not involved in making steel and was intended to help the group cut costs by one billion dollars.

"This has been a very difficult decision for the company to take as all of our employees are extremely important to us," executive vice president Bernard Fontana said.

"Sadly however the global economic reality means that it is only sensible to adopt such measures," he added.