CINCINNATI — AK Steel's chairman and chief executive says more layoffs are likely at the steel company due to the struggling economy.

James Wainscott said Thursday after a speech at Xavier University that U.S. steel manufacturers are currently operating at about 50 percent of capacity. He also serves as chairman of the American Iron and Steel Institute.

He says AK Steel already has laid off about 1,000 of its 6,500 employees at nine plants and will "probably double that before things get better."

Wainscott says low demand has led AK Steel to aggressively reduce costs, including temporarily idling plants and reducing salaried employee pay by 5 percent.