Tech Layoffs Surge to 300,000

[OhioChick]

Source: Washington Post/Tech Crunch

Tuesday, February 17, 2009; 3:56 AM


Layoffs in the tech sector are accelerating. It took exactly three weeks for tech layoffs to surge to 300,000, according to our Layoff Tracker. Since late January, when the tracker hit 200,000 layoffs, another 100,000 job eliminations have been announced or completed. In contrast, it took five weeks for layoffs in the tech industry to hit the 200,000 mark, and four months for layoffs to hit 100,000 last December. The total number of layoffs since we began tracking since the financial crisis began in late August is 300,093.

The past few weeks have particularly brutal for the technology space, with substantial layoffs announced by Pioneer (10,000), Cisco (3,000), Panasonic (15,000), NEC (20,000), Electronic Arts (1100) and AOL (700). Even Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal, who both managed to avoid layoffs in the past few months, were forced to make cuts to their workforces. And Google, who was immune to layoffs until late January, continued giving pink-slips in the past three weeks with the company's exit from radio. Sadly, a few start-ups weren't able to weather the storm, with eBaum's World cutting all of its workforce.

Obviously the tech industry is not immune to the current economic climate, and if the past three weeks are any indication, things could still get worse for the tech space before they get better. Maybe that economic stimulus plan will help turn the tide.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/17/AR2009021700921.html

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So much job loss in every sector, it's frightening.

[AzDar]

1. K & R

:kick:

[Missy Vixen]

2. Wooo-hooooo!

Just remember, offshoring jobs isn't bad for the tech sector. There's a job for EVERYONE who wants to work! :sarcasm:

In the meantime, thousands of families are wondering what's next...

[Phoenix-Risen]

3. I wonder what happens when you hand a laid off tech worker

a pick and shovel or a scraper and a paint brush?

[OhioChick]

4. I'm one hell of a painter...

Also paved my own driveway, myself. :)

[The Traveler]

5. In my case

a shallow ditch or a bad paint job. From the persepective of macroeconomics, it is called a deflationary spiral, so you get lots of other funny stuff too.

I'm a pretty decent mechanic, though, and not a half bad electrician and plumber.

Trav

[phantom power]

6. I know some laid-off tech workers who would love a job with a shovel.

Any job. They're trying to keep a roof over their family's heads.

Nobody's hiring for those kind of jobs either, although hopefully the stimulus bill will provide some of that kind of work.

[endarkenment]

7. why do you think there are jobs digging ditches or painting houses?

Come to think of it, why are tech workers deserving of such condescension on your part? Is our labor less worthy than yours? Are our families less deserving of economic security?

[GiveMeFreedom]

20. Thank You!

Yes, I have been in construction my entire life. I can dig a ditch with a shovel, pick, backhoe, excavator, dozer, loader, scraper, blade, etc. Because we shower when we come home and not before. Lost my job in 07 because of the housing collapse and now techies are loosing theirs. If techies want a pitchfork and torch to march with me when the revolution starts, then I will make sure to have plenty on hand and give lessons on "best practices" on their uses.

[XemaSab]

26. Welcome to DU!

:D

[Jokerman]

11. Most laid-off tech workers could dig a ditch or paint a house...

but how many laid-off physical laborers could build a database or setup a network?

[GiveMeFreedom]

21. ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

me me me me me me!!!!!!!!!!! I can also hunt submarines using airborne radar and sound spectrum analyzation equipment. Got that job back in 75.

[Demit]

16. I imagine they would work instead of, say, fighting the undead minions of the Lich King.

[ChromeFoundry]

18. ...he does your job, only better

don't think that tech workers don't know how to use their hands. many came from a manufacturing job, but had to retrain in order to keep food on the table. Asshole.

[XemaSab]

25. They can stand in line behind 200,000 day laborers and unemployed construction workers

:eyes:

[ChromeFoundry]

30. That about sums it up...

a job is a job. And when it's lost, everyone's family suffers exactly the same way.

[Greyskye]

8. My old tech employer has laid off 6,000 so far this year.

My new one has just announced a company wide 5% pay cut.

At least I'm still working.

[Purveyor]

9. So 'smug' were these tech workers and Wall Street 'pros' when the auto industry started their mass

layoffs beginning around late 2004-5. Would never happen to them because their industry wasn't a dying, unionized dinosaur we were told.

Sitting here amongst the ruins Michigan, if they are looking for sympathy, it can be found in the dictionary between syphilis and shit.

[OhioChick]

10. Never have been a "smug" IT worker here in Ohio

I've always stood by auto and blue collar workers that have lost their jobs here, and there have been plenty of them. (My Family included) Ohio workers have also been decimated by NAFTA long before 2004-5....hell, we never left the recession of 2001. I have written to my Senators and Congressman continuously regarding NAFTA, CAFTA, WTO, Outsourcing/Offshoring, etc. for years now and will continue to do so.

Please don't lump all of us together.

[GiveMeFreedom]

24. You go OhioChick!!!

"We the People" We only fool ourselves when we compare laborer and techie. We are all in this fight together. I gotta a beer for ya when you come to California, oh wait! we might not be here in a couple of months unless we get a budget soon.

[OhioChick]

27. Thanks and Welcome to DU!

I'll take you up on that beer and pitch fork offer. :D

Good luck with that budget, too.

[ihavenobias]

31. Amen.

Well said.

[endarkenment]

12. How did we get conflated with Wall Steet?

:wtf:

I've been in the high tech industry since the early 80's and turmoil, upheaval, churn and chaos have been standard for the entire time.

[babylonsister]

13. So if you're not an employee of the auto industry, sympathy

isn't deserved? You have a narrow world view there. I work for neither industry, but can empathize at the workers' situations in both industries. Hell, for anyone who's been laid off. That would include my s-i-l and step-daughter, and neither worked in IT or auto.

[OhioChick]

32. I hope that your s-i-l and step-daughter find jobs soon...

It's tough out there, everywhere. :(

[AndyTiedye]

14. High Tech Had Just Had Huge Layoffs a Year or Two Before That

So 'smug' were these tech workers and Wall Street 'pros' when the auto industry started their mass layoffs beginning around late 2004-5.

Might have been true for the Wall Street types, since the Bush**leaguers were letting them make money outa nothin',
but it is grossly unfair to lump techies in with them.

Would never happen to them

But it just HAD happened to them a couple of years before. Huge layoffs in technology.

because their industry wasn't a dying, unionized dinosaur

Companies become dinosaurs because they cannot adapt quickly enough to a changing market.
This has nothing to do with unions. Adapting to changing markets is the job of management.
Most seasoned techies know a dinosaur company when we see one, most of us have worked for at least one.

[Raine1967]

17. That is just cold and cruel. eom

[ChromeFoundry]

19. Wow, this is quite a shock coming from you.

I've read a lot of your posts over the years. Never did I think that you'd be this closed minded.

Hopefully, it's just one of those days.

[Skittles]

23. you are a complete dickwad

you base an entire industry on a few elite asshole workers - how about you go fuck yourself?

[Greyskye]

28. I've been in the tech industry for 25+ years

And lived through multiple downturn/layoff cycles. I'm sorry you had your head too far up your nether regions to notice what tech people have gone through up until the point when it happened to you.

Fail.

[TBF]

15. I'm sorry to hear that OhioChick. These comments concern me - it's awful to see

industries pitting themselves against each other. We're stronger together, and we're stronger with unions.

[OhioChick]

29. I hate to see that, as well.

We all need to stand together in unity.

[Tab]

22. Being in the industry myself

I can attest that daily job listings in my area have dropped from 50 or 60 a day to maybe one or two.

I alternate between "official" jobs and consulting, so I'm slightly more flexible, but it's extremely dead all around.

Since tech is one of the shining points of the US economy, this does not bode well.

[AB_Positive]

33. Silver lining in the cloud of despair...

I'm a tech worker so this frightens the hell out of me. However: the fact that those IP stealing bastard-child jerks over at eBaum's world are over and done with... good riddance. Stealing whatever they wanted, watermarking and selling ads over it... despicable. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.