Dow shuts plants, cuts jobs as Europe struggles (AP) — Dow Chemical will cut 900 jobs and shutter plants on three continents because of weakness in Europe, which may soon tip back into recession of it has not done so already. Europe released new employment figures Monday showing that there are now more people unemployed than at any time since the euro was introduced in 1999. The financial information company Markit pointed particularly to deteriorating conditions in German and France. Dow will book a first-quarter charge of $350 million in the first quarter for severance packages, asset impairments and other related items.