I.B.M. Adds to Hiring Goal
By REUTERS
I.B.M. will hire 15,000 employees this year - 5,000 more than originally planned - because of an improving economy, a human-resources executive said over the weekend.
The company, which has faced criticism for its plans to shift some United States jobs to cheaper locations overseas like India and China, is planning to add about 30 percent of the new hires, or 4,500 jobs, in the United States, said Randy MacDonald, I.B.M.'s senior vice president for human resources.
"We are going to hire more in the U.S. than we shift" overseas, Mr. MacDonald said in an interview.
The jobs will increase I.B.M.'s work force by nearly 5 percent.
I.B.M. said on Thursday that customers started buying more technology in the fourth quarter.
Last fall, the company's chief executive, Samuel J. Palmisano, said I.B.M. would hire 10,000 employees in 2004. The decision to add another 5,000 jobs was made in the last few weeks, Mr. MacDonald said. |
