Macy’s Inc. will cut about 3,900 corporate and management jobs to slash costs in an effort to weather the long-term effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the reeling retail sector.

The restructuring, announced Thursday, is expected to save the company about US$630 million a year, it said in a statement.

“We know that we will be a smaller company for the foreseeable future, and our cost base will continue to reflect that moving forward,” Chief Executive Officer Jeff Gennette said.

The job cuts add to fears that many of the measures taken to temporarily furlough employees in the early stages of the pandemic are becoming permanent. The company had 123,000 workers at the end of last year, according to a filing.

Macy’s fell 2.7 per cent to US$6.60 in early trading. The stock is down 60 per cent this year, compared with a 5.6 per cent decline in the S&P 500 Index.