IBM to increase staff by 15,000

IBM WILL hire 15,000 new employees — 50% more than originally planned — in areas like software and services because of a rebound in the economy, a top executive said.

New York-based IBM, which has faced criticism for its plans to shift some US workers to cheaper locations such as India and China, will add about 4,500 net jobs in the US this year, according to IBM human resources senior vice president Randy MacDonald.

“We are going to hire more in the US than we shift overseas,” he said in an interview.

The move will increase IBM’s workforce by nearly 5% to about 330,000 or more, depending on attrition. That number is the highest since 1991 when IBM began a decade-long overhaul under former chief executive Louis Gerstner.

More than half of IBM’s employees are outside the US. The group plans to move up to 3,000 jobs from the US to developing nations, an IBM spokesman said. A report in December that said the company would shift 4,730 software jobs to India was incorrect, said Mr MacDonald.

The raised hiring target follows news from the world’s largest computer company that customers started buying more technology during the fourth quarter.

The technology industry is emerging from a three-year slide caused by a weak economy, computer overcapacity and cuts in corporate spending. While consumer spending recovered in 2003, corporate buying lagged.

The decision to add 5,000 jobs was made in the past few weeks, he said.

Discussing where the hiring will occur, Mr MacDonald said that was a matter of the availability of the technical skills and customer needs, as well as cost.

IBM’s plans do not favour one geographic region over another. He said that Asia Pacific is the company’s fastest growing region.

Moving jobs overseas has become a hot political issue as US corporations build foreign work forces to try to cut costs.

IBM services competitor Accenture, for instance, plans to double its staff in India to 10,000.