AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) has announced that 367 new jobs will be available in downtown Birmingham. AT&T expects to invest approximately $3.5 million to accommodate the new employees and anticipates that the new jobs will result in a projected annual payroll of nearly $8.5 million.
"This is an important economic announcement for our area because Birmingham competed with many other locations across the Southeast," said Tom Hamby, president of AT&T Alabama. "The company determined that this was a favorable location for its job expansion, which requires a highly technical workforce. These jobs could have located almost anywhere, but the support of Alabama, Birmingham and Jefferson County officials was significant in the final decision."
The additional employees will staff a new customer care center that will be located in AT&T's City Center in downtown Birmingham. The 367 jobs will support AT&T's Internet operations. Employees in the new Birmingham positions will be the first point of contact for new AT&T high speed Internet subscribers who need technical support with self-installation and service issues.
"AT&T's commitment to deploy new technology could bring more economic investment and job growth to areas that support the removal of barriers to competition," said Hamby. "Support for the latest AT&T expansion, coupled with the Alabama Legislature's removal of some regulatory barriers in 2005, are both positive steps. But, there are additional steps needed to remove barriers and open the marketplace in Alabama that could affect where the company expands in the future."
The Communications Workers of America (CWA)-represented jobs are part of an initiative that involves the relocation of 3,000 customer service positions that had previously been outsourced. The new call center will also include AT&T management jobs.-At&T
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