RALEIGH, N.C. -- Caterpillar is laying off more workers at a North Carolina plant.
Multiple media outlets reported that the company laid off 121 employees Wednesday at its plant in Clayton. It's the third layoff at Clayton since December 2008.
Most of the company's 1,800 North Carolina workers work in Clayton, Cary and Sanford.
The announcement came the same day Caterpillar announced it planned to hire 500 workers at its generator plant in Newberry, S.C., over the next four years.
Caterpillar spokesman Jim Dugan says the company is making a significant investment in a new assembly line in Clayton that will require adding workers. Dugan could not say how many might be recalled or when.
Wednesday's layoffs are part of a previously announced plan to shift production of backhoes to the United Kingdom.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
