FEDERAL WAY, Wash. (AP) — Weyerhaeuser Co. is laying off about 1,500 employees, the company announced Tuesday. About 1,000 of the job cuts are at Weyerhaeuser’s Federal Way, Wash., headquarters where 2,500 people work. The rest are scattered across the country.

The layoffs are largely in support services for paper and packaging units that have been sold, company spokesman Bruce Amundson said. The cuts are part of an ongoing plan to scale back operations to focus on timberlands and wood products, he said.

Weyerhaeuser has taken several actions to reduce its size in recent years, including the $6 billion sale of its containerboard unit to International Paper Co., which closed this week. Weyerhaeuser had about 37,900 employees at the end of 2007. Some 14,000 went to International Paper in the containerboard sale.

The company currently employs about 23,900 salaried and hourly workers.

The layoffs were announced the same day the company reported a quarterly loss of $96 million, compared with a profit of $32 million a year earlier.

Amundson said 900 employees are being laid off by the end of 2008, and another 600 by the end of 2009.