Japan Post to Cut 11,000 Jobs by 2005

Japan Post, a public postal service corporation launched in April, plans to cut about 11,000 jobs by the end of March 2005, 3,000 more than planned by its predecessor the Postal Services Agency, it was learned Friday. The agency had aimed to cut 8,000 of its 140,000 workforce over the same period. The new public corporation is speeding up its rationalization program in the current severe business environment arising from the popularity of e-mail and the partial deregulation of postal services, informed sources told Jiji Press. The planned personnel cuts will be mainly in ordinary postal services, such as mail delivery, the sources said. In fiscal 2004, the corporation will slash its number of new recruits to about 2,700 from 4,397 the previous year, they said. The mail services business is believed to have plunged to a deficit of some 25 billion yen in fiscal 2002 ended March, from a profit of 8 billion yen in fiscal 2001.