Last month, IBM CEO Samuel Palmisano advised President-elect Barack Obama's transition team that a $30 billion government investment aimed at digitizing health records, expanding broadband access and improving the electrical grid could create more than 900,000 jobs, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Palmisano's presentation was in response to a November 2008 request from the transition team for an analysis of the effect IT investments would have on job creation. It is unclear how much of IBM's advice will be incorporated into the economic stimulus plan being drafted by the Obama team and lawmakers, the Journal reports.
According to research conducted with the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, IBM found that investing $10 billion in electronic health records and other health-related IT projects would create 212,000 jobs. That government investment would be in addition to $30 billion in public and private health IT investments already scheduled for this year, according to IBM.
IBM also found that investing $10 billion in broadband networks to expand access to high-speed Internet would create 498,000 jobs and that investing $10 billion in equipment that lets electric utilities monitor their transmission infrastructure more closely would create 239,000 jobs.
IBM offers services and software related to health care IT and smart-grid infrastructure but does not develop telecommunications equipment used in broadband systems (Bulkeley, Wall Street Journal, 1/6).