TORONTO -

IBM Canada Ltd. is cutting an unspecified number of jobs across the country, according to a spokesman for the computer and software company.

Mike Boden told The Canadian Press that IBM Canada is in the midst of cuts that will affect "a wide range of jobs and positions," from executives to customer service staff.

"There's no specific area being targeted and no specific region -- it's across the country," he said Thursday.

"From our perspective this is just the way we manage resources depending on the needs of clients and how that changes."

IBM Canada declined to release details on how many positions will be impacted.

Reports suggest that IBM Corp. (NYSE:IBM) plans to lay off about four per cent of its workforce in the United States, or about 5,000 employees, in a new round of job cuts.

It employs about 400,000 people worldwide, including about 19,600 in Canada at the start of the year.

Canadian staff work at various facilities, including a software lab in Markham, Ont., a microelectronics manufacturing plant in Bromont, Que., and other data centres across the country.

IBM is shifting labour to lower-cost regions like India to maintain its profits at a time when other technology companies' earnings are tumbling.