US defense firms cut thousands of jobs

A report says big US defense contractors have gradually eliminated thousands of jobs over the past few years in anticipation of federal spending cuts.

According to AP, automatic spending cuts are not hurting the firms as much as the industry’s lobbying arm warned they would in the months leading up to the federal budget sequester that took effect in March. In contrary, many of the American military firms have even seen an increase in their profits.
According to The Washington Post, Lockheed Mar­tin, the world’s largest defense contractor, reported Tuesday that its profit rose 10 percent, to $859 million, during the second quarter.
Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics are set to report their profits on Wednesday.
Analysts said they’re not surprised about the news, and predicted that it will take time for the spending cuts to show up in contractors’ bottom lines.
However, the companies have already taken action to keep profits high. They have fired thousands of employees in the past few years.