PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced its latest and most aggressive expense reduction measure to date in response to recent dramatic slowing in customer demand. The company will temporarily reduce employee pay by 10 percent. Agilent began slowing hiring and reducing discretionary spending several months ago. As the demand from Agilent's major customers has dropped dramatically in the last four to six weeks, the company has taken progressively more aggressive expense control actions.

"We're trying to avoid across-the-board layoffs in response to cyclical market conditions," said Ned Barnholt, Agilent president and chief executive officer. "We view the economic slowdown as a business cycle -- even though it's deepening and broadening. At the present time, we believe this pay reduction is the most appropriate action for us. We value our workforce and need to be ready to meet demand as business conditions improve."

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