While cutting Kanawha Valley jobs, Bayer to focus on growth in ‘emerging markets’

While the Kanawha Vally ponders the loss of 220 jobs at the Bayer CropScience plant in Institute, it’s worth noting that this isn’t the only place Bayer is cutting its workforce.   Back in November, the Bayer parent company announced:

Bayer plans to invest its resources even more systematically in growing the company and enhancing its innovative capability. The focus will be on researching, developing and marketing new products, particularly in HealthCare and CropScience, and on expanding activities in the emerging markets. This will require a high level of investment in the coming years. However, sales and earnings are under pressure from generic products, rising development costs and the effects of health care reforms.

What’s that mean? Read on:

In connection with this program, it is planned to reduce the global headcount of 108,700 by an aggregate of about 2,000 by 2012. Approximately 4,500 positions – including roughly 1,700 in Germany – are to be cut, while some 2,500 new jobs will be created over the same period, particularly in the emerging markets.

Also worth considering in the wake of Bayer’s announcement this week is this commentary by West Virginia Media President Bray Cary, who you would hardly describe as some anti-job environmental extremist:

For too long, we were a community held hostage by “what if,” and in 2008, when a deadly explosion rocked that plant and killed two men, we got far too close to a tragedy of epic proportions.

It’s disheartening to know that some of our own are going to lose their job because of this, and you’ll never find a bigger proponent of economic development than me, but no paycheck is worth a life.