Struggling Internet company AOL plans to shed up to 2,500 jobs—more than a third of its work force—as it prepares to separate from Time Warner and finally sever their ill-fated marriage. Major job cuts had been expected and seemed certain after Time Warner said last week that AOL would take $200 million in charges for severance and other restructuring-related costs. But the magnitude was not known until yesterday.

Alcoa Inc., the largest U.S. aluminum producer, will cut 250 jobs at a plant in Hampton because of falling parts orders for industrial gas turbines. The reductions represent about 24 percent of the 1,060 workers employed at the Alcoa Howmet plant, which is part of the company’s power and propulsion division, spokeswoman Jean Moorman said.

Employers cut a larger-than-expected 467,000 jobs in June, and the unemployment rate climbed to a 26-year high of 9.5 percent. Workers also saw weekly wages fall, suggesting Americans will have little appetite to spend and that the economy’s road to recovery will be bumpy.

Capital One Financial Corp., one of the largest employers in the Richmond area, is cutting costs by eliminating positions here and reducing the dividend it pays to shareholders by 87 percent. The credit-card and financial-services company is eliminating 35 full-time jobs in accounting and finance in the Richmond area, company spokeswoman Julie Rakes said yesterday. The jobs will be phased out by June and the work will be outsourced.

Joseph Murray could see the end coming for his job as a data processor for Bank of America in Henrico County. The banking giant had announced in December that it would cut as many as 35,000 jobs worldwide. Murray had been with the company about two years and data-processing jobs had been moving to India, so he wasn’t surprised when he was among a dozen people laid off Feb. 12.