Largest Mass.-based firms boosted payrolls in '05

Massachusetts has become known as a state where more and more people work for once-local companies that are now controlled by out-of-state owners.

But more and more people are working for the biggest companies that still are based in Massachusetts, too.

Nine of 10 of the largest worldwide firms based in Massachusetts increased hiring last year, according to The Globe 100's list of top employers.

Framingham-based TJX Cos. Inc. grew to 119,000 employees, up from 113,000 in 2004. Raytheon Co. added 500 jobs, increasing worldwide employment to 79,900. Staples Inc., with headquarters in Framingham, added 4,000 employees to increase to 68,533.

Steady expansion at the two retailing giants drove hiring. Staples, the office products chain, opened 99 new stores around the United States, spokesman Owen Davis said.

''Our North American delivery business is growing in double digits," said Davis. ''Sales grew 18 percent over fiscal 2004, and to help support that business we did more hiring."

TJX, whose stores include the T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, A.J. Wright, and HomeGoods chains, opened 160 stores last year and recruited aggressively as a result, said Sherry Lang, vice president of investor and public relations. In addition to stores through the United States, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, TJX opened six stores in Massachusetts that employ 300 people.

The only company among the top 10 Massachusetts-based public companies that recorded a decline in jobs was Friendly Ice Cream Corp. in Wilbraham. Friendly's employment has fallen by 1,800 jobs, to 12,700. The company has been struggling with flat or falling sales and has been working to spin off dozens of its restaurants to independent franchises, which moves their jobs off the company payroll.

In many cases, locally based companies still are adding jobs in Massachusetts as they expand nationally and internationally.

At Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. in Watertown, for example, employment rose to 18,000 worldwide as the company added workplace-based child-care centers in the United States and abroad.

The company also boosted support staff at offices and sites in Massachusetts, adding 200 new positions. Of those, 25 percent were at the firm's headquarters.

Overall, Massachusetts added 25,000 jobs during the past year, said Denis McSweeney, regional commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employment in Massachusetts increased by 0.8 percent last year, up from 0.7 percent in 2004.

The financial industry gained 4,200 jobs, professional and business services added 8,900, and education and health services jobs increased by 7,000. In addition, computer systems development gained 1,300 jobs, consulting was up 2,100, and research added 1,500 jobs.

EMC Corp., the data storage company that has headquarters in Hopkinton, increased employment to 26,500. Overall the company added 2,300 new hires in the United States, including 440 in Massachusetts, spokesman Greg Eden said.

As part of an ongoing push to diversify, EMC also acquired several companies. It disclosed plans last year to buy California-based Captiva Software Corp., a developer of paper scanning software. The company also acquired Rainfinity Inc., a San Jose, Calif., digital information management firm.

''Essentially, we are benefiting quite a bit from the dramatic increase of information posted online," Eden said. ''We are seeing information growing 70 percent, with things like photos, X-rays, and other things that had lived in a filing cabinet or a shelf or even on tape now going online, giving business instant access."

Diane E. Lewis can be reached at dlewis@globe.com.