Honda announced today that it is cutting jobs in Great Britain and Japan as sales and demand in the auto industry hit an all-time low. Honda is offering early retirement packages for workers in Britain but is not disclosing the number of workers it plans on cutting.

In Japan however, Honda said it is reducing 760 temporary workers out of 4,300 due to falling demand in the U.S. and other key markets. According to company spokesman Hideto Maehara, Honda employs more than 27,000 people in Japan.

Honda did not state how the cuts will affect its production plans. Layoffs and job cuts are very rare for Japanese companies and are looked at as a damaging sign for a company since lifetime employment is a part of Japan’s history.

Source: Detroit News