IBM layoff follow-up

“A handful” of IBM Rochester jobs were cut Tuesday as part of a companywide layoff of about 200 employees.

Less than 10 is how IBM spokesman Jeff Couture defined “ a handful.”

The cuts in the microelectronics division hit harder at the Essex Junction plant in Vermont, where 180 jobs were cut. Another “20 or so” were laid off at other sites, said Couture.

The latest job cut in Vermont brings that plant’s employee numbers to 5,400 — the lowest in more than two decades, according to the Burlington Free Press. It had 8,500 on staff in 2001.

“We are addressing business needs: to rebalance skills that we have and to reduce costs, to improve efficiency and to respond to the evolving market conditions,” company spokesman Jeff Couture said this morning.

In 2007, IBM made several company-wide job cuts, but none added up to more than a handful of layoffs in Rochester. The Rochester campus has 4,400 on staff as of January.