Google to cut 100 full-time recruiters

San Francisco: Google said on Wednesday it was laying off 100 full-time recruiters, the latest sign that the economic recession has not spared one of the technology industry's strongest companies.

In a post on the official Google blog, Laszlo Bock, Google's vice president of people operations, said the Mountain View, California-based company now needs fewer people focused on hiring.

Bock said Google had started by terminating contracts with external recruiters, but the worsening economy had necessitated the laying off of full-time workers.

The 100 positions represent less than one-quarter of Google's total in-house recruiters, spokesman Matthew Furman said.

The job cuts come after a series of other cost-cutting moves by Google.

Known for its extravagant holiday parties, Google decided to scale back on end-2008 celebrations, a source told Reuters earlier.

It had earlier cut a number of contract worker jobs, and pulled back some benefits for employees in its New York office cafeteria, in moves designed to save money.

In a separate blog post, Google's senior vice president of engineering and research Alan Eustace said the company was also shutting offices in Austin, Texas and Lulea, Sweden.