Abbott includes manufacturing in 700 job cuts

Abbott Laboratories ($ABT) said Wednesday that it will eliminate 200 manufacturing jobs in Puerto Rico and at some other sites. As bad as that sounds, it's relatively good news: The company also announced the elimination of about 300 jobs at its stent business in Southern California, and fewer than 200 more from the diagnostics unit at the Lake County, IL, location, reports The Associated Press.

Lake County, near the company's Abbott Park headquarters, has been particularly hard hit recently. One year ago, the drugmaker unveiled plans to cut 1,900 jobs in a restructuring, with about 1,000 of those in the Chicago-area.

In June, by contrast, about 150 Canadian workers benefited from increased demand for nutritional formula Ensure and Similac baby formula. Their terminations were delayed 12 to 18 months beyond what they'd been first told so Abbott could meet demand, as we reported.

Abbott reported a 12% profit increase for the fourth quarter, according to the company announcement.

- see the AP story
- here's more from MarketWatch
- here's the Abbott release

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