MINNEAPOLIS -- Carlson Cos. announced it laid off 360 employees
from its U.S. workforce.
Two of the company's five divisions were affected -- Carlson
Wagonlit Travel, the company's business travel division, and
Carlson Shared Services, which provides internal technology and
business services to the company's other divisions.
Carlson Shared Services was hit the hardest, as 300 jobs were
cut. The other 60 eliminated jobs were mostly travel agent
positions for Carlson Wagonlit Travel, said the company.
Carlson blamed the layoffs on a continuing slowdown in the
business travel and technology sectors.
"We have seen a significant decrease in travel across all client
segments," said a Carlson Wagonlit Travel spokeswoman.
The spokeswoman said the company's corporate travel operations
in Manchester, Conn., was most affected by the layoffs.
Carlson said the 360 jobs represent less than 1% of its
workforce. The company employs 72,000 people worldwide.
This is the second round of job cuts this year at Carlson,
which, according to the company, laid off 200 reservations agents
in March.