ST. Petersburg
Jabil decides to cut Hungary workforce
Jabil Circuit is cutting 670 jobs in Hungary in December, leaving the St. Petersburg-based contract electronics manufacturer with about 8,000 workers in the Eastern European country.
The company said the pullback was a direct result of its decision to sever its relationship with troubled smartphone maker BlackBerry, which was Jabil's second-largest customer after Apple.
BlackBerry production was split between two primary locations: Guadalajara, Mexico and Tiszaujvaros, Hungary.
"Obviously this change requires we right-size our workforce to meet the reduced production requirements of the site," Jabil spokeswoman Beth Walters said. "Our Hungary site is one of our very best. … We would expect that we will bring other business into the site to replace the BlackBerry business; however, it will take time to do that."
Jabil has about 175,000 employees worldwide, including nearly 2,000 in the Tampa Bay area.
Times staff