Oregon Public Broadcasting

Nike announced Thursday that it plans to cut more than 1700 jobs worldwide which is five percent of its global work force.  About 500 of those lay-offs will be at its world headquarters in Beaverton.

Nike officials declined to comment, but in a statement on the company's website, Nike says it expects to complete most of those lay-offs in the next several weeks.

Jennifer Black is a retail research analyst in Portland.  She says she’s not surprised by the announcement.

Jennifer Black: “Retailers across the board are cutting orders, they’re canceling orders, they are not ordering nearly as much because they want to keep their inventories low.  Most apparel and footwear companies, if not all, have been impacted by this slowdown.”

Black says the retailers she covers have been talking about cutting their spending since the beginning of the year.