IBM said it will make some heavy investments in its U.S. workforce, hiring 25,000 staffers and spending $1 billion in training over the next four years, the CEO wrote in the pages of USA Today.
But to CNBC, the company said the offer was not a hard commitment, rather a plan to hire up to that many if business conditions allow over coming years. IBM in May told The Wall Street Journal it had more than 20,000 open positions, amid restructuring that reportedly resulted in thousands of layoffs.
CEO Ginni Rometty wrote in USA Today that 6,000 IBM workers would be hired next year alone, as Big Blue looks toward an evolving future of work. She said she envisions "new collar" jobs that don't necessarily require an advanced education, but rather could be learned in a modified high school education.
"As industries from manufacturing to agriculture are reshaped by data science and cloud computing, jobs are being created that demand new skills — which in turn requires new approaches to education, training and recruiting," Rometty wrote.
The editorial reiterated many points in Rometty's recent letter to President-elect Donald Trump, and comes ahead of a crucial Wednesday meeting between Trump and tech leaders, where the agenda is expected to be centered on job creation in the United States.
Rometty is one of the few technology industry members of Trump's business advisory council.
"Most of all, to create new collar jobs we will need new kinds of collaboration — involving federal and state governments, public school systems, community colleges and private business, across multiple industries," Rometty wrote. "We will not always agree, but progress in job creation will come from open discussion and engagement."