Tech layoffs up nearly 75 percent in 2008

Correction, 12:50 p.m. PST: This story initially mischaracterized a statement made by John Challenger regarding the severity of recent tech-related job cuts. He does not expect them to be as severe as those during the dot-com bust. Also the percentage figures cited within the various sectors reflect the increase in layoffs last year compared with 2007, and not the percentage of jobs cut.

Job cuts in the tech sector increased 74.2 percent in 2008 compared with the previous year, as the industry was battered by an unrelenting wave of layoffs, according to a report released Thursday.

Last year, 186,955 jobs in the telecommunications, computer, and electronics sectors were slashed, according to the report by outplacement consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

And the bulk of those cuts, nearly three-quarters, came during the last six months of the year, the report noted. That drove the tech sector to unemployment levels not seen since 2003, according to the report.

"Through the first half of 2008, it looked as though the tech sector might be one of the few areas of the economy to remain resistant to recessionary pressures. However, the economy's continued slide here and overseas saw consumer and corporate demand for technology products and services drop rapidly, and these firms were suddenly under pressure to make significant cost-cutting moves," John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in statement.

AT&T, for example, announced 12,000 job cuts last year, while Sun Microsystems unveiled plans to cut 6,000 positions, and Xerox 3,000 jobs.

Within the various sectors in tech, electronics firms saw losses of 73,447 jobs, an increase of 89.7 percent over the previous year; the telecommunications industry saw an increase of 72.5 percent; and cuts in the computer industry were up 61.3 percent.

And in the Silicon Valley, for just the month of December, the unemployment rate rose to 7.7 percent in Santa Clara County and 5.9 percent in San Mateo County. Nationwide, the unemployment rate reached 7.2 percent for the month of December.

And the forecast for 2009 is not looking much better.

"Cuts could reach even higher in 2009, as there is no evidence yet that the economy has hit the bottom of this downward portion of the cycle. We almost certainly will not see a repeat of the 2008 first quarter, in which tech cuts totaled just 17,345," Challenger said in a statement.

He added, however, he does not expect technology-related job cuts to be as severe as the dot-com bust, when 36 percent of all layoffs across a wide swath of industries came from tech.

[Random_Walk]

So you are telling us that the number of computer industry jobs are only 38.7% of what existed last year? This would mean that Microsoft alone would have cut their 95,000 positions down to only 36,765. Microsoft has only said that they are laying off 5,000 people, which means that someone has bad numbers.

I think you need to express your maths better, as your article sounds too sensationalist and unbelievable to be considered true.

[chili_picante]

Random_Walk, you are misreading this article. The number of lay-offs has increased by about 75%, not 75% of IT has been laid off. No doubt, your misreading is because of a poorly written article, with statements such as, "while the telecommunications industry cut 72.5 percent of its positions,? which I hope isn?t true!

[CosterMonger]

boom bust cycles, firing IT is great -- until everything stops working.
This year's job cuts will be next years competition.

[Courtdotorg]

I agree... I also think it's interesting that these companies 'lay-off' thousands of people and then wonder why nobody is buying their products. Duh, nobody is working, they can't afford it. I was laid off from a major telecomm company last April. I still subsribe to their wireless services and I love when they come to my door selling their version of cable. Maybe when I get a job I can afford your lousy fiber optic service. I also love the phone calls regarding my overdue wireless account balance...

Wirless, cable and internet is the fat I will trim first.

[AnkerBS]

So its time to get rid of the H1-B visa scam.I know the tech companies are going to claim that they can't get qualified US workers, but what's really going on is that they don't want to pau US salaries.

Jobless since April!

[WirelessBillCalulator]

Why do they trim the fat off human resources instead of optimizing processes?

A good place to start is wireless bills for ANY business or government entity.

Why?

So many reasons:
Because 22% of contracted 'Peak' minutes go unused, 80% of wireless users overpaying for what they really need.
42% contact their provider with a billing-related service inquiry, with 55% of these contacts attributed to inaccurate charges.
And we all know how lovely it is to spend our hours talking to customer service agents...

There are systems out there, such as MyBillAudit.com that automate the process of auditing and resolving wireless bills.

If we are to have a better economy, we all need to smarten up.

[wwalla]

It seems that http://www.layoffsthisyear.com is trying to keep up with this escalating number of layoffs