Early Monday morning, Nestlé ($VTX:NESN) announced that it would axe 380 jobs in Germany, following through on a June plan to close two factories and reduce headcount at two more.

In a trendline ahead of layoffs — similar to that of Verizon Communications Inc. ($VZ) and General Motors ($GM) — job openings at Nestle have declined significantly over the past few months. Most recently, Nestlé's decline has hit a signifiant lowpoint as the company deals with sagging demand.

On October 30, Nestlé listed 596 job openings on its careers page. By November 12 — a month out from the company's announcement — there were only 473, a decrease of 20.6%. That number of openings was also the lowest it has been for Nestlé in the past two years, with the current number of job openings being not too far behind.

Specifically in Germany, the number of job openings at the company were cut in half from October (12) to today (6).

Should the number of job openings remain at current levels, it could set a new standard for a company that has typically listed about 600-700 jobs listed per day. Otherwise, a continued decline in this trend could signal a not-so-sweet future for the Swiss-based food giant.

Ad placeholder