Another UK employer has announced they are cutting staff due to the financial crisis.

Construction equipment firm JCB are axing 398 positions, including 297 shopfloor jobs and 101 staff posts.

The firm said it is due to "the extreme deterioration in business levels and confidence around the world".

Another firm which has announced cutbacks is truck maker Leyland.

It plans to cut almost 250 jobs and have an extended Christmas shutdown because of a "severe decline" in demand, the company has said.

The news comes just hours after BT announced it is cutting 10,000 positions.

The company said it had already cut 4,000 jobs, leaving a further 6,000 to go between now and March.

On Tuesday, Virgin Media axed around 2,200 UK jobs under a sweeping restructure.

Yellow Pages directories firm Yell warned it expected to lose another 1,300 jobs from its business over the coming year and housebuilder Taylor Wimpey confirmed it had axed a further 1,000 jobs as it said property sales slumped by 27 per cent since the beginning of July.

Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline added to the gloom by unveiling plans to close a factory with the loss of 620 jobs following a review of its activities.

Technology firm Psion announced more than 200 job cuts after the company issued a warning on profits.

© Independent Television News Limited 2009. All rights reserved.