Employees and related workforce
| Yr.-to-Yr. Change | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| For the year ended December 31: |
2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2008-07 | 2007-06 |
| IBM/wholly owned subsidiaries | 398,455 | 386,558 | 355,766 | 3.1% | 8.7% |
| Less-than-wholly owned subsidiaries | 11,642 | 11,769 | 10,720 | (1.1) | 9.8 |
| Complementary | 27,983 | 28,642 | 28,063 | (2.3) | 2.1 |
As a globally integrated enterprise, the company operates in over 170 countries and is continuing to refocus its business on the higher value segments of enterprise computing. The company also continues to rebalance its workforce globally to improve its global reach and competitiveness and to reflect the changing geographic mix of its business.
In 2008, total employees at IBM and its wholly owned subsidiaries increased 11,897 compared with 2007. The U.S. remained the largest country, with 115,000 employees, while resources increased in Asia Pacific and Latin America and were essentially flat in Europe.
The company continues to add resources aggressively in emerging markets, particularly in the BRIC countries — Brazil, Russia, India and China — where employment totals approximately 113,000.
The complementary workforce is an approximation of equivalent full-time employees hired under temporary, part-time and limited-term employment arrangements to meet specific business needs in a flexible and cost-effective manner.
