Dell's workforce mostly outside of U.S.

Round Rock, Texas-based Dell Inc. employs more people abroad than it does in the U.S, it disclosed in a regulatory filing this week.

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As of Jan. 30, the computer systems giant employed 23,800 employees outside of the U.S. and 22,200 domestically, it said in a filing submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Monday.

The disclosure underscores an increasing trend among IT companies to locate jobs overseas, where labor costs are cheaper. Dell recently established customer and technical support centers in India, China, Morocco, Panama, and Slovakia and has set up design centers in Taiwan and China. Furthermore, it not only has manufacturing facilities in Texas and Tennessee, but also in Brazil, Ireland, Malaysia, and China.

Although Dell has come under fire along with other companies by critics who say that so-called offshoring is robbing U.S. citizens of jobs, the company's newly annointed chief executive officer (CEO) has said that Dell will continue to engage in the practice. Kevin Rollins, the company's current chief operating officer who is due to take the CEO position in coming months, recently said that the issue of offshoring was "overblown."

Dell has said that it will continue to employ people overseas, where it sees market growth.

The company derived 36 percent of its revenue from international sales for its fiscal year 2004, it said in the SEC filing. Furthermore, it said that its future growth is dependent on its success in international markets.

A representative for Dell in the U.K. could not immediately comment on the types of jobs the company offers outside of the U.S. or on how many of them were moved abroad from the domestic market.