In Google's most recent SEC filing the Ad and Search Giant listed that it is going to Axe a number of temporary employees but will not reveal how many. The SEC filing was made on paper to the SEC back in December but managed to slip under most of the press radar. AP was able to obtain a partial copy of this filing (parts were maintained as confidential due to trade secrets).
Google has stated that they plan to keep all permanent employees as of this filing.
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The filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission was submitted on December 15, but it was made on paper, leaving it unavailable through the various Web services that track reports to the agency. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the records this week.
A key section of the filing is being kept confidential because Google maintains it contains trade secrets, but the publicly accessible parts provide some information that hadn't previously been disclosed.
For instance, Google revealed it currently has 24,400 employees, including 4,300 interns, temporary workers and contractors. That contrasts sharply with the roughly 10,000 contractors that Google co-founder Sergey Brin said the company had in October. "It's really high," Brin said in an October 16 interview with the San Jose Mercury News.
Google acknowledged in late November that it planned to significantly reduce the number of its contractors and retain all of its full-time employees.