IBM will hire 8,800 more people this year than it had expected nearly a year ago, due in part to growth in its worldwide services business, the company said.

IBM said it would take on 18,800 new employees globally in 2004, up from its previous forecast of 10,000 for this year.

It was not clear exactly how this would impact on the group's Irish operations. The company had later indicated that its hiring could be as high as 15,000.

IBM now expects to end the year with more than 330,000 employees worldwide, up almost 3.5 per cent from last year. IBM will now have more employees at the end of 2004 than any time since 1991 when it finished the year with more than 344,000 workers.

In the mid 1980s IBM employed more 400,000 people. IBM said it hired 10,000 people in the first six months of this year and another 3,000 in July.