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(Georgetown, Kentucky) – The Toyota plant here will be eliminating about half of its 500 temporary workers because of the sluggish economy.

In a statement, Toyota officials say they intend to slow production during the first quarter of 2009.

“We don’t have all of the details worked out, but members of our variable work force team have been notified by their agency, which will reassign them,” the statement read. “This is a difficult decision because the variable workforce is such an important part of our operations. It provides us flexibility to adjust to market demand, but more than that, it has also provided us with full-time employees.”

At Georgetown, Toyota has hired about 850 of its temp workers to full time positions over the last four years.

For more information on Toyota visit http://www.toyotageorgetown.com/