The Canadian Press reported that US Steel is laying off 677 workers in Canada and the United States because of weakening customer demand.

The layoffs will impact workers at Hamilton and Erie plants in southern Ontario in Canada. US layoffs cover various mills in the Pittsburgh area as well as operations in northwest Indiana, Michigan and Illinois.

Mr John Armstrong spokesman of US Steel said that the layoffs are effective immediately for 500 employees in the United States and 177 in Canada. Mr Armstrong said the jobs will come back when the company sees customer demand strengthening. He said that
“We regret having to do this, but it’s necessary in order to control costs and maintain our competitiveness in this difficult environment.”

Mr Trevor Harris spokesman of US Steel Canada said that "The dramatic downturn in the economy has really negatively affected the overall business. We have adjusted production across all our operations to stay in line with our customers' demand, and while we've made every effort to maintain employment levels at our operations, we now have to adjust our workforce to match our production levels."

US Steel, one of the founding companies of the American steel industry, employs more than 50,000 people and has operations in the United States, Canada and Europe. US Steel bought the former Stelco Inc.last year for about USD 1 billion.