Now here's a Google search that should make President Obama happy: "jobs." Google says it will hire more than 6,200 workers this year—25% of its work force—in the online giant's biggest hiring spree yet. Some Wall Street analysts complain that Google is quickly becoming too bloated, but the search king disagrees. "At this stage, the number of opportunities just vastly exceed the number of people we have at the company," a Google executive told the AP.
Google's previous top year for hires came in 2007, when it added 6,131 workers. Last year, it grew by 4,600. Even with the new workers, Google's 31,000 employs would lag far behind Microsoft's 88,400. And there is no telling how many of the new jobs will be based in the United States. But as Google grows, it is feeling more and more competitive pressures. Last year, Facebook raided 200 of Google's employees, and Google gave its entire workforce a 10% raise to boost employee retention.
(More Google stories.)