File photo shows the head office of Panasonic Corp. in Osaka Prefecture. (Kyodo)

       OSAKA (Kyodo) -- Panasonic Corp. will eliminate more than 1,000 jobs in Japan at the end of the month through an early retirement program as part of its planned structural reorganization, a company source familiar with the matter said Friday.

       The voluntary retirement program targeting employees who have worked for 10 years or more will be implemented as the company reforms its business divisions on Oct. 1, ahead of its transformation into a holding company next year.

       The workforce reduction of about 1 percent of its domestic group personnel of around 100,000 is smaller than the roughly 13,000 job cuts conducted around the early 2000s under a similar scheme.

       The electronics company will change to a holding company next April, with its divisions operating as separate entities to encourage swift decision-making and independent strategies.

       Panasonic's group sales in the fiscal year ended March fell below 7 trillion yen for the first time in 25 years due to the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

       Among other domestic manufacturers, more than 2,000 people applied for Honda Motor Co.'s recent retirement program, a person familiar with the matter said in August. Optical equipment maker Olympus Corp. said in February that 844 had applied for voluntary retirement.

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