IBM stops disclosing U.S. headcount data

[Newsjock]

Source: Computerworld

IBM says it is the No. 1 technology employer in the U.S. and the world, but as time moves on it may be harder to tell just what is happening to its domestic workforce.

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 employee hiring, especially in India, and a steadily declining U.S. workforce.

... Ron Hira, an associate professor of public policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology, said the workforce data is critical for policymakers in understanding the dynamics of offshoring. "By hiding its offshoring, IBM is doing a disservice to America -- through omission the company is providing misleading labor market signals and information to policy makers," Hira said.

... Hira also argues that the shift overseas also makes clear how critical the tax deferral on foreign profits is to IBM's bottom line and why they are opposing President Barack Obama's "proposal to end the tax breaks that encourage firms to move American jobs overseas," he said.

Read more: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9169678/IBM_stops_disclosing_U.S._headcount_data?taxonomyId=60

[nebenaube]

1. gee

If I were to work overseas I would still have to pay my taxes; despite the fact that those earnings were "foreign profits".

[BadgerKid]

2. Echoes of stopping tracking of M3 money data

from *'s regime.

[Poll_Blind]

11. No joke- I thought the SAME thing when I read that hadline. I wonder how many...

...people still remember that...

PB

[Dappleganger]

3. They just laid off my brother-in-law...

he'd been with them for YEARS. He discovered that his job is being split up into two positions and given to contractors w/no benefits. Fuck 'em!

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. Would love to fuck them...tell us what they sell so we can stop biying it.

[FarCenter]

4. The "I" is for "International"

It is a mistake to think of IBM as a United States company. It has only a minority of its investments, staff, and revenues in the United States.

Note that the sealed disk drive with non-removable disks was originaly referred to as a "Winchester disk", since it was developed at the IBM location near Winchester in the United Kingdom.

[Dappleganger]

6. Then they need to be kicked out

or taxed to high heaven, because they are trying to have their cake and eat it too.

[FarCenter]

7. Why kick them out? They still provide lots of jobs and business in the US.

The percentage of revenues from the US is pretty close to the percentage of employees in the United States. In fact, the US payroll is probably still greater, since US employees generally make more than the world average.

IBM is not the only company in the S&P 500 that has less than 50% of its activity in the US. Many of them do.

[Dappleganger]

14. See post #9

Penalties need to be given to companies who screw over American workers and steal taxpayer's money with false promises of employment. If they can't live by that, IMHO the US is better off without them.

[LeftHandPath]

8. I work for IBM...

the damage that has been to our company through this labor arbitrage is immeasurable.

We used to use the word 'family' at this company, but no more. Now the operative words are 'bottom line', and 'profit above all else'.

Its sad really. The quality of work is below substandard, and the Americans who are left are usually the ones who have to clean up all the mistakes of our cheap labor.

Few if any employees feel any obligation to help the company succeed. In fact I would say a majority are hoping for a major downfall.

[Dappleganger]

13. Similar to what my b-i-l said.

It's not the same place at all, many of his co-workers are jumping ship too.

[Fleshdancer]

9. January 2010: IBM promised 1,300 jobs for incentives of $52M but isn't releasing hiring figures.

They'll be more than happy to take tax dollars and we just have to take their word on how many Americans they hire. Niiiice.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=222301244

Global CIO: IBM Iowa's Birthday: IBM Gets $52M, But What Does Iowa Get?

IBM promised 1,300 jobs for incentives of $52M but isn't releasing hiring figures. That's not right.

Employment is always a serious subject worthy of serious consideration, particularly in these times when more than one out of 10 Americans is out of work. So it is puzzling at best and troubling at worst to see that IBM, after demanding and receiving $52 million in tax breaks and other incentives from Iowa in return for creating 1,300 jobs at a new global service center in Dubuque, will not release specific hiring figures.

What the company will say is that hiring is underway and that various projections are being met. But the concern arises from what IBM will not say, as indicated in a huge story today on the Dubuque Telegraph Herald's website.

[FarCenter]

15. According to the contract they don't own Iowa figures until June

See http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=270156 referenced in the Information Week Article.

Also, the fact that they are hiring 1300 in Iowa says nothing about whether they are increasing or decreasing employment elsewhere in the US. The $52 million Iowa incentive only applies to Iowa employment.

Note that IBM has historically moved into smaller cities where the company was a major employer -- Rochester, MN for example. This has resulted in a "company town" feeling, but it also allows them to hire a stable work force at below averages wages that is compensated for by lower cost of living.

Note that one problem with Dubuque is finding rentals and housing for the new workers moving to the IBM jobs.

[OhioChick]

10. Stop giving them tax breaks and let them become an Indian company. n/t

[ChromeFoundry]

12. Tariffs n/t

[OhioChick]

16. Kick

:kick: