The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
Manufacturing Manufacture Of Chemicals And Pharamceuticals Manufacture Of Basic Pharmaceutical Products And Pharmaceutical Preparations 21 - Manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations
7,000 jobs Number of planned job losses
Announcement Date
28 November 2005
Employment effect (start)
Foreseen end date
31 December 2008
Description
The leading pharmaceutical company Merck announced an important worldwide reorganisation plan which should include some 7,000 redundancies out of total 62,000 groups employees and the closure of five of its 31 worldwide manufacturing plants, as well as one basic research site and two preclinical development sites, by 2008, with a view to realise cost savings of around $4 billion by the end of the decade. About half of the reductions are expected to occur in the United States, while the remainder will involve its worldwide operations, which include a number of locations in Europe. The reorganisation will include diversification of suppliers and the outsourcing of some of the production activities. In mid-December 2005, the company disclosed some elements of its new strategic plan and increased its cost-reduction target to some $5 billion by 2010.
Sources
29 November 2005: Il Sole 24 Ore
Citation
Eurofound (2005), Merck, Internal restructuring in World, factsheet number 62731, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/62731.
Digitisation and automation technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), can affect working conditions in a variety of ways and their use in the workplace raises a host of new ethical concerns.
The retail banking sector is fertile ground for studying the impacts of digitalisation on work and employment. Financial services are increasingly provided online, without the intermediary of customer-facing institutions.
European labour markets have recovered strongly from COVID-19. By the end of 2021, little more than 18 months after the start of the pandemic, employment rates in the EU were almost at pre-crisis levels.
