BENGALURU (Feb 17): Accenture Plc said on Friday it would create 15,000 jobs in the United States, as IT services firms brace for a more protectionist U.S. technology visa program under President Donald Trump. IT services companies came under the spotlight after Trump said that his administration would focus on creating more jobs for U.S. workers, who had been affected by the outsourcing of jobs abroad. Major IT service companies, particularly those based in India, use H-1B visas to fly engineers to the United States to service clients, but some opponents argue they are misusing the program to replace U.S. jobs. Accenture said on Friday it would invest US$1.4 billion to train its employees and would open 10 innovation centres in some U.S. cities. The newly-added jobs will raise the company's U.S. workforce by 30% to more than 65,000 by the end of 2020, the company said.

Source: The Edge Markets February 17, 2017 14:48 UTC