CNET notes that, according Apple's 10-Q document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in association with the release of its earnings for the second fiscal quarter of 2009, Apple reduced the number of employees in its retail store division from 15,600 to approximately 14,000 full-time equivalents during the quarter.
The retail arm of the company now employs 14,000 full-time equivalent workers, down from 15,600 at the end of Apple's first fiscal quarter, according to a filing with the SEC. Reports surfaced late last year that Apple was looking into ways to reduce the number of hours worked by part-time employees as a hedge against a coming recession.
The report also noted that Apple opened only one new retail store during the quarter. The new store is located in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Update: We failed to stress in the original article that the numbers are "full-time equivalents", meaning that several part-time employees would be counted as one full-time employment. The decline in full-time equivalents appears to have been primarily due to Apple scaling back the hours of its part time employees and not through any layoffs.
