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After months of surreptitious layoff notices, technology giant IBM Corp. revealed that it's in the process of cutting more than 15,600 jobs, or 5% of its work force.
The total layoff figures appeared in a Tuesday filing with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.
IBM reported cutting 14,213 jobs from its Global Services unit, along with smaller numbers of workers in its servers and software businesses, and 1,400 in its Microelectronics division, which manufactures semiconductors.
About half of IBM's employees work in the Global Services unit.
"The work force reductions are intended to drive productivity and efficiency throughout the company," said IBM spokeswoman Carol Makovich.
IBM blamed the cuts on "the recent decline in corporate spending on technology services."
By Sept. 30, when most of the laid-off workers are expected to have departed, IBM's work force will have been cut from 320,000 to around 305,000, Makovich said.
Among the sites losing employees are IBM plants in Burlington, Vt., Endicott and East Fishkill, N.Y.; Lowell, Mass.; Raleigh, N.C.; Austin, Texas, and Encinitas, Calif.
But the Armonk, N.Y.-based hardware and services vendor is also expected to undergo a surge in employees, as it adds some 30,000 members of the consulting arm of accountancy PricewaterhouseCooopers. IBM expects to complete the deal by the end of September, Makovich said.
( August 14, 2002)
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