IBM, Symantec Lay Off Workers

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More than 3,300 tech workers are soon to be out of work thanks to layoffs at IBM and Symantec. However, employment experts say the IT job market remains fairly good.

Jennifer Booten with FOX Business reported, “IBM (IBM) has initiated layoffs that have so far reached more than 1,600 positions, according to employee group Alliance@IBM. IBM confirmed of the layoffs on Thursday but would not provide ‘details of staffing plans,’ citing the competitive nature of its industry. It said ‘some level of workforce remix is a constant requirement’ in its business and remains an ‘essential feature’ of its business model.”

PC Mag’s Angela Moscaritolo added, “As of Thursday afternoon, 1,631 IBM workers across multiple business units had been laid off, according to Alliance@IBM, which is keeping track of the cuts as it receives severance documents from affected workers. The downsizing includes 222 employees in the software marketing group, 165 workers from semiconductor research and development, and 137 from management.”

According to All Things D’s Arik Hesseldahl, “Security software company Symantec may lay off as many as 1,700 employees as early as today, sources familiar with the company’s plans tell AllThingsD. The cuts are part of a company-wide reorganization first announced in January as part of a turnaround plan instituted by Steve Bennett, Symantec’s new CEO, who joined the company 11 months ago.”

Corinne Bernstein with eWeek observed, “‘Good but not great’ were the words Tom Silver, senior vice president at Dice.com, used to describe the results of the career and employment site’s latest hiring survey released June 10. Dice found that 73 percent of the hiring managers and recruiters polled said they anticipate that they or their clients would hire more IT professionals in the next six months. That figure—which includes 54 percent who foresee slightly more hiring in the second half and 19 percent who expect substantially more hiring—is similar to results from about a year ago regarding hiring predictions for the last half of 2012.”