Where does IBM now employee more workers than anywhere else?

India.

Meanwhile, IBM’s work force in North Carolina is now well below 10,000.

And across the Triangle, where Big Blue employed more than 10,000 just a few years ago alone, the headcount has dropped to some 7,300.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) won’t talk about where it employees people geographically. So people trying to figure out what’s up with job numbers have to rely on sources and the occasional document that might be leaked.

Last week, ComputerWorld reported that it had seen a “document” showing IBM employs 112,000 people in India. That’s up from just 6,000 in 2002, the news site reported.

Indian media sources have reported similar numbers, and we’ve cited those in Tech Wire reports.

Meanwhile, Alliance at IBM, the union that seeks to represent IBM workers in the U.S., says its sources have provided information that says Big Blue headcount in the U.S., is down to 92,000.

Locally, the numbers are grim with under 10,000 workers across the sate and just 5,500 in RTP with another 1,800 in Durham, the Alliance tells WRAL News.

Some reductions are not surprising, given that IBM sold off its PC business and point-of-presence retail units, both of which were primarily based in Raleigh and the Triangle.

IBM’s headcount keeps dropping in N.C. and across the U.S. even as the ranks of Big Blue keep growing in India. According to Computer World, IBM has 112,000 workers across India. Meanwhile, the U.S. workforce is down to 92,000, says the union seeking to represent Big Blue employees.

“It does not surprise us that IBM India has more employees than IBM U.S.,” Lee Conrad, national coordinator for the Alliance, said.

“For years we have been sounding the alarm that IBM corporate management has and is abandoning the U.S. for low cost countries, like India.”

ComputerWorld reported that Indian IBM workers average $17,000 a year in compensation.

Conrad didn’t dispute the ComputerWorld story.

“Our sources tell us the information is accurate,” he said.

Meanwhile, IBM’s numbers decline even as it does announce new hires such as an analytics center in Ohio that will employ some 500 people. That news was disclosed last week.

The latest IBM headcount estimate from Alliance at IBM follows. The asterisk notes Alliance estimates based on its own sources. IBM stopped reported employee count by geography in 2009.

The numbers:

  • 2012: *92,000
  • 2011: *98,000
  • 2010:*101,000
  • 2009: 105,000
  • 2008: 115,000
  • 2007: 121,000
  • 2006: 127,000
  • 2005: 133,789

[IBM ARCHIVE: Check out a decade of IBM stories as reported in WRAL Tech Wire.]