Panasonic to lay off 5,000 employees

(MENAFN) Panasonic Corp announced that it will discharge nearly 5,000 employees from the total 110,000 people working at its automotive and industrial segment, reported Reuters. The Japanese firm said that the move aims at boosting operating profit margin to a minimum of 5 percent over the coming 3 years through lowering labor costs. It added that the division is at the management's forefront plan to shift Panasonic away from consumer electronics to making gadgets and machinery it sells to other firms. It is worth noting that the division covers automotive components, semiconductors, production machinery and other devices.