CHICAGO — Construction and mining equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. revealed Thursday plans to lay off 10,000 or more workers in a bid to save $1.5 billion a year in operating costs.

Nearly half of those job losses – 4,000 to 5,000 salaried and management employees – will come before late 2016, with most completed this year and a “significant” proportion in Illinois, where the company is headquartered.

Caterpillar spokeswoman Rachel Potts said a “large portion” of the initial 4,000 to 5,000 workers let go will be in Illinois, where company employs 21,000. The rest of the layoffs will be completed by 2018 and will also hit overseas.

Caterpillar employs about 3,200 workers in Peoria, where its global headquarters was built in 1967. Plans to develop a new headquarters are delayed indefinitely.

CEO Doug Oberhelman blamed the job cuts on “challenging marketplace conditions” in the energy and mining sectors, as Caterpillar, one of Illinois’ biggest employers, revised downward its sales projections for 2015 by $1 billion, to $48 billion.

The company noted this is its “third consecutive down year for sales and revenues. In mid-afternoon trading Thursday, the company’s shares were trading down about 6 percent to around $66 a share.


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