Aluminium giant to axe 13% of its workforce

Alcoa, the world’s third-largest aluminium maker, is to axe 13,500 jobs – 13% of its workforce – and slash spending and output to cope with the global economic slowdown.

The reductions expand on cost-cutting measures announced in October, when Alcoa reported a 52% decline in third-quarter profit due to sharply lower aluminium prices, weaker demand and a charge from curtailing a smelter in Texas.