GM lays off white-collar employees

General Motors Corp. laid off several hundred white-collar workers last week as part of a plan to bring its ailing North American operations back to profitability.

It was the first round of salaried cuts this year for the world’s largest automaker which is struggling with sluggish sales, shrinking U.S. market share and high health and pension costs that put it at a competitive disadvantage against Asian rivals.

GM didn?t give an exact figure but said fewer than 500 jobs were cut Tuesday at 30 locations across the United States, including factories and engineering centers. A cut of just less than 500 jobs would represent about 1.3 percent of GM?s U.S. salaried work force of 36,000.

GM has said it plans to cut 7 percent of its salaried work force this year, or 2,500 jobs, so more cuts are on the way.