Dow Chemical's previously announced layoffs at its South Charleston Union Carbide division have begun.

Jim Guidarini, Dow's West Virginia site leader, says a letter dated May 1 went to local officials to formally inform them of the layoffs.

Attached to the letter is a list of 162 positions that are being cut and the ending dates of those jobs.

The list shows that only one job, an engineer specialist, has been eliminated so far. Twenty-one other positions have 2008 ending dates, but most end December 31, 2009.

Dow announced last December it would be cutting approximately 150 research and development jobs in South Charleston by the end of 2009. The layoffs are part of a massive company-wide downsizing in what the Michigan-based company calls weak-performing businesses.