Supporting our people

Our people have helped make us one of the leading communications companies in the world, and in return, we strive to be the industry's employer of choice. We're investing in our people by creating and preserving high-tech jobs that pay well, offer good benefits and provide opportunities for training and advancement.

AT&T Employees around the World

Our jobs are vital to the communities we serve. The vast majority of our nearly 270,000 employees are US-based — and we have employees in each of the 50 states. We continue to develop a presence globally, and now have AT&T employees in more than 57 countries, including the U.S.

As our business changes — most notably shifting from wireline to a wireless focus — and economic pressures impact our company, we continue to adjust the size of our workforce. This remains an ongoing challenge for our company, as it does for many. As of the end of 2010, we had 266,590 employees. This is compared to 282,720 employees at the end of 2009.

The pressures of the economic downturn and business conditions have required us to make some adjustments in our workforce. While we continue to add jobs in those parts of our business that are growing, we are shedding some jobs in the parts of our business that are declining, particularly wireline. As was the case in 2009, the reduction of our workforce in 2010 was tied to three primary factors:

• A decline in customer spending driven by economic pressures
• A continued industry-wide trend of residential customers shifting from wired voice to wireless and broadband service
• Streamlining of our organizational structure

The good news is that, in 2010, AT&T added nearly 5,500 new jobs in growth areas such as wireless, video and technology operations.