Cognizant, An IT Outsourcing Company Based In New Jersey, To Hire 10,000 Workers In The US Over Next 3 Years

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (NASDAQ:CTSH) is planning to increase its U.S. workforce by at least 10,000 over the next three years, to meet increasing demand for its outsourcing business, the company said on Monday.

The Teaneck, N.J.-based company’s decision to hire local employees could lessen the impact of outsourcing on technology jobs in the U.S., and the move comes amid a debate in Congress over a comprehensive immigration reform bill, which also aims to cap the recruitment of overseas consultants. Companies such as Cognizant, and Indian software majors such as Infosys (NYSE:INFY), TCS (NSE:TCS) and Wipro (NYSE:WIT) have been criticized for outsourcing jobs out of the U.S., and for bringing in overseas employees to the country on a work visa.

“Because of structural changes in business driven by regulation, consolidation, globalization and virtualization of businesses and emerging social, mobile, analytics and cloud technologies, we see continued demand for our business,” Gordon Coburn, Cognizant’s president said, according to a Hindu Business Line report. “The hiring is to meet continued demand for its business.’’

Cognizant and other information technology companies are seen to be benefiting from a recovery in the economies of U.S. and Europe -- the companies' main markets -- and a rapid depreciation of the Indian rupee in recent months, which has helped the companies bag new business orders, leading to an uptick in hiring.

“There is clearly long-term demand for skilled technology professionals here in the US. We are working hard to identify the talent to meet our clients’ needs,” Coburn told Mint, an Indian business daily.

The fresh hiring plan will augment Cognizant’s 29,000-strong existing domestic workforce by a third over the next three years. The company’s global workforce stood at 166,400 employees as of Sept. 30, according to the company's website.

Hiring for new positions will be made from the science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, segment, the company said, adding that it will provide a three-year grant worth $150,000 to support STEM education programs at Texas A&M University.