IBM hides its US head count
By Sathish

Technology giant IBM employs 400 thousand people world wide of which a quarter lives and works in USA.  IBM is doing well and in the fourth quarter of 2009 had revenue of $27.2 Billion which was $200 Million more than the same quarter in the previous year.  The net income in this period was $4.8 Billion – a 9 percent increase over the corresponding quarter.

While IBM Chairman, President and Chief Officer Samuel Palmisano is credited with many of the changes that resulted in the tech giant doing well despite the global recession,  outsourcing to India has been a major factor in the financial bottom line.

IBM which presented itself as an American company saw its largest market USA drop 3 percent in the last quarter.  Asia Pacific revenues increased by 6 percent.

Is 2010 the year when IBM decided that it would no longer see itself as an American company operating on a global scale?  Rather a Global company operating in America? The question is being raised as IBM has now stopped listing its American head count in public documents released to the market in 2010.  Perhaps, IBM has stopped listing its USA head count because most of the jobs are being moved to India and other outsourcing hubs.  And the loss of the American jobs is a sensitive topic in that country.

ComputerWorld which broke the story published an article on March 13 which read in part:

“
IBM has stopped providing breakouts of the number of employees it has in the U.S., and in doing so is closing a door to data that provided insights into this bellwether company's employment shift. Over the years, IBM workforce data showed accelerating overseas hiring, especially in India, and a steadily declining U.S. workforce.

In its most recently released annual report, the company only provides its global headcount. Overall, IBM finished 2009 with 399,409 employees worldwide, up by 0.2%, or just short of 1,000, from 2008.
“

IBM employee organization endicottalliance.org has statistics which show the dramatically declining head count in USA.  In 2005, IBM employed 133, 790 Americans which fell to 115,000 in 2008.  By 2009, IBM USA had a workforce of 105,000 and rapidly falling.

The IBM employee organization Endicottalliance lists where new employees were hired in 2009.  India was tops with 18,873 new employees followed by Asia Pacific which recruited 13,376.  Latin America employed 7,112 employees.  IBM Europe only hired 2,923 while IBM USA hired 3,514.