JCB, a big player in the ailing construction industry, is cutting nearly 400 more jobs, blaming "extreme deterioration in business levels and confidence" everywhere. The company announced 650 redundancies at is 11 factories in Britain in July.

The Staffordshire-based digger manufacturer is also going on to a 34-hour week, and is reducing production by 34% for November, December and the first quarter of 2009. Without these measures the job losses would have been much higher.

The company reported a "significant reduction in incoming orders", particularly from Russia and Eastern Europe, which had previously compensated for the downturn in the UK property market.

Group chief executive Matthew Taylor has said he does not expect a recovery until late 2009 at the earliest.
 

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