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Ford Motor Co. aims to cut about 10 percent of its global workforce amid Chief Executive Officer Mark Fields’s drive to boost profits and the auto maker’s sliding stock price, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. The move comes as Ford targets $3 billion in cost reductions for 2017, a plan intended to improve profitability in 2018 even as U.S. auto sales plateau. Ford’s share price has suffered during Mr. Fields’s three-year tenure, and the company’s market value has slipped far behind those of Tesla Inc. and General Motors Co. The job cuts, expected to be outlined as early as this week, largely target salaried employees. It is unclear if the plan includes reductions in the hourly workforce at Ford’s factories in the U.S. and abroad. Ford has 200,000 employees globally, with half of them working in North America. Ford has launched into a series of new technology investments, including a $4.5 billion electric-vehicle program and an aggressive autonomous-car project. While both programs could contribute to Ford’s longer-term prospects, the spending erodes profit margins at a time when sales of lucrative pickups and sport utilities remain strong. The auto maker’s stock price has fallen nearly 40 percent since Fields became CEO in mid-2014. Shares have fallen even as the broader U.S. auto market has grown for seven straight years. Now, as volumes stabilize, executives are turning to downsizing moves like those of a decade ago.

The U.S. economy is back at full employment after more than a decade, according to a leading economist, The Hill reported yesterday. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said the 4.4 percent unemployment rate is good news for workers’ wages while acknowledging that labor shortages will make it more difficult for businesses to find qualified employees. “With the economy at full employment and seeming destined to blow past it, the current expansion is likely entering its later stages,” Zandi said. “An overheating economy, where tight labor markets result in significant wage and price pressures, has been a necessary condition for all past recessions.” Amid the growing economy, lingering frustration around the long economic recovery from the recession in 2007 and the financial crisis the following year is what led to the election of President Donald Trump, Zandi said. "Since most people set their expectations based on their recent experiences, many believe their financial future is a dark one," he said. Another indicator, the underemployment rate, which has fallen to 8.6 percent, is also below the threshold consistent with full employment. “A full-employment economy feels great after years of high unemployment, but for businesses it means an increasingly difficult time finding qualified workers,” Zandi said.

Several U.S. states are pressing ahead with efforts to bring retirement-savings plans to millions of private-sector employees, wagering they can defeat legal challenges that are expected after the Senate voted to repeal regulations encouraging such initiatives, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. At least 20 states introduced legislation in 2017 to consider such plans for residents without access to a workplace retirement plan. AARP, an advocacy group for older Americans, estimates about 55 million full- and part-time private-sector workers in the U.S. lack access to retirement-plan coverage through work. Under the programs, the first of which expects to launch in Oregon in July, workers will contribute a percentage of their earnings to a retirement savings account. The states are responsible for setting up the plans, selecting the investment options and making sure employee savings are secure. New Mexico recently approved a task force—typically the first step in creating a state plan — and Vermont is expected to ratify a retirement-savings program within days. Policy experts say a few more states could take similar steps by year-end.

Ford Motor Co. will temporarily lay off 130 workers at a factory near Cleveland, a move aimed at lessening supply of medium-duty work trucks hit by softening demand, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. The layoffs take effect next week and are expected to last until a newer version of the company’s F-650 and F-750 commercial trucks launches in September. F-Series medium-trucks are sold for various business uses and are among the company’s more profitable business lines. The strength of the commercial-truck sector has been considered a sign that economic activity is robust in the U.S. The affected trucks serve a variety of needs, from dump trucks to cargo haulers to tow trucks. Ohio is home to several automotive assembly plants and factories that make parts for cars and trucks. U.S. auto sales are slumping in 2017, potentially falling off a seven-year growth streak that has included two consecutive record years for volumes of lighter vehicles. Through April, light-vehicle sales are down 1.3 percent. Sales of big trucks have taken a much bigger hit, falling 16 percent through the first quarter compared with the same period a year ago. Big-truck sales have fallen for 12 consecutive months. Ford’s heavy-truck sales are down 10.7 percent through four months.

The U.S. government and coal companies will be required to pay out health care to retired coal miners, guaranteeing benefits to workers even as coal companies face bankruptcy, after Congress on Sunday reached a fiscal spending agreement for 2017, Reuters reported yesterday. The provision to secure the United Mine Workers' health care benefits was included in a deal that lawmakers reached for around $1 trillion in federal funding that would avert a government shutdown later this week. Around 22,600 coal miners and their families were on the brink of losing their health care benefits, which were at risk of default as the industry struggled, with companies trying to recover from bankruptcies. Members of the UMWA have made several visits to Washington over the last few months to urge lawmakers to protect their benefits, which they say is a government obligation. Lawmakers from both parties still hope to pass the Miners Protection Act, which would transfer funds from the Abandoned Mine Land fund to the union's pension plan to prevent its insolvency. If Congress cannot transfer those funds, the financially strained $5 billion federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. would be responsible for covering the plans.