Royal Philips Electronics here today announced it will continue its cost-cutting measures in 2003--a move that could affect “several thousand” more jobs from the Dutch company, according to a report from Reuters. The report cited the FT.com Web site, which claimed Philips would cut more jobs as a result of restructuring and the transfer of assembly work away from western Europe. There is a huge amount of work for the organization and it is going to create major change. Globally this is going to affect several thousand people. They may lose their job, move to another location or move to another job," Gerard Kleisterlee, Philips' president and CEO, told the FT.com Web site.

The Dutch company has cut 35,000 jobs since Kleisterlee took the helm in April 2001, leaving the group with 184,000 employees.