AT&T to layoff 1.5 percent of employees

AT&T, feeling the pinch of a shrinking landlines business even as it suffers growing pains in its wireless and TV units, is laying off some 5,000 workers as it reconfigures its workforce. The 1.5 percent trimming will cost it $374 million in first quarter pretax charges.

The company said its overall numbers of employees won't actually change. "This is part of our ongoing evaluations to streamline the business," said spokesman Walt Sharp. "It's about having the right people in the right job."

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Most of the job cuts are at the managerial level. AT&T had a workforce of 309,000 at the end of last year. When it announced the acquisition of BellSouth in 2006, it projected 10,000 job cuts over the next three years. Instead, it's grown some 7,000 as its wireless and TV divisions expanded.

"We're always hiring for the growth areas," Sharp said, noting that the company was seeking talents in areas such as wireless and U-Verse, its Internet TV service. "We're shifting headcount to areas where the customers are."

For more:
- read the CNNMoney AT&T lays off 1.5 percent article [2]

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