IBM trims 1,500 workers from growing Global Services group

ARMONK, N.Y. (AP) _ After adding more than 10,000 employees this year, IBM Corp.'s burgeoning Global Services group is laying off about 1,500 workers. <br><br>The cuts are being made at various U.S.

Tuesday, July 3rd 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

ARMONK, N.Y. (AP) _ After adding more than 10,000 employees this year, IBM Corp.'s burgeoning Global Services group is laying off about 1,500 workers.

The cuts are being made at various U.S. locations to respond to changing client demand and do not reflect a business slowdown, IBM spokeswoman Jan Butler said Tuesday.

Global Services, IBM's consulting and outsourcing arm, is one of the company's fastest-growing units. According to Gartner Dataquest, it is the world's largest information technology services unit.

With the hiring of more than 10,000 new workers in the first five months of 2001, it now employs some 150,000 workers. IBM counts more than 315,000 employees worldwide.

Employees losing their jobs were notified on Monday.

Shares of IBM were off $1.15 to $113.20 in trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.