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HP's layoff plans now sit at 34,000 jobs through 2014 (update)

HP's layoff plans now sit at 34,000 jobs through 2014 (update)

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It won't be happy new year for 5,000 HP employees who are now part the company's plans to trim its workforce in 2014. In its annual report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today, HP noted that it plans to eliminate 34,000 positions, up from the 29,000 the company said were getting cut as part of 2012's multi-year restructuring plan. That change, which was spotted by Business Insider, will occur sometime between now and October 2014, and is due to what HP says were "continued market and business pressures."

There's some hope left in ink

The dramatic cuts mean slashing nearly 11 percent of HP's 317,500 person workforce. CEO Meg Whitman put those plans in motion last year in an effort to trim costs, and get the company back on track as a mover and shaker of technology products and services. That's a response to weakened positions in desktop computers, a market that once exploded, but has spent the past several years withering. HP's also also taken hits its server business, an area that's become extremely competitive, and increasingly complex; some companies simply choose to buy server use from other companies, instead buying and maintaining the hardware outright. Some bright spots for HP have been the company's services and software division as well as its printer division, which has turned some of its focus to targeting commercial customers instead of home users.

Update: The 5,000 jobs number was disclosed during the company's fourth quarter call with analysts earlier this year, as well as at a meeting in October.