Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Dell Inc., the world’s second-biggest personal-computer maker, will cut 1,900 jobs at a plant in the Irish city of Limerick to reduce expenses.

The jobs will be slashed in the next 12 months, the Irish unit of Round Rock, Texas-based Dell said today in an e-mailed statement. Some of computer manufacturing will switch to a factory in Poland.

The measures at the 18-year-old Dell plant, which became a symbol of Ireland’s “Celtic Tiger” economic boom, mark another blow to a nation where unemployment has already jumped to the highest in more than a decade. The boom began to falter in 2007 with the collapse of a housing bubble, compounded by the global financial crisis. Dell employs about 4,300 people in Ireland.

“This is a difficult decision, but the right one for Dell,” Sean Corkery, vice president of Dell’s operations in Europe, said in the statement.

Dell, which is trying to win back the PC sales lead held by Hewlett-Packard Co., has replaced executives and ditched the company’s direct-sales-only model to jump-start revenue growth.

Last quarter, the company posted sales that trailed analysts’ estimates by more than $1 billion. Revenue from the Americas, which make up almost half the total, fell 7.7 percent after customers pared budgets to shield themselves from the recession.

Dell declined 26 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $10.89 as of 9:57 a.m. New York time on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The stock dropped 58 percent last year.

The Irish government said it will “continue to engage” with Dell about attracting other functions and investments from the company.

“A successful Dell is in our interests, as even with this level of redundancies, Dell remains a major employer in Ireland and a major contributor to the economy,” Deputy Prime Minister Mary Coughlan said in a statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ian Guider in Dublin at iguider@bloomberg.net; Louisa Nesbitt at lnesbitt@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 8, 2009 10:00 EST