The economic slowdown has prompted Yellow Freight System to permanently lay off some 75 salaried jobs in additional to seasonal reductions of drivers and dock workers.

Although the company expects to show record earnings for 2000 when its financial results are released later this week, a spokesman told the Kansas City Star that they anticipate slower business levels through the first half of 2001 and "want to stay ahead of the curve."
Yellow temporarily laid off 1,000 hourly employees at terminals nationwide but said that's customary since freight typically slows in the winter. About 40 of the permanent cuts were at its headquarters in Overland Park, Kan.