Tech Job Cuts Upgraded to “Appalling” from “Gruesome”
by John Paczkowski
Posted on April 6, 2009 at 12:30 PM PT
The first three months of 2009 were brutal ones for the high-tech industry–from a job loss perspective, the worst in seven years. Challenger, Gray & Christmas on Monday said high-tech companies sacked some 84,217 employees in the first quarter, a 27 percent increase over the previous quarter and the steepest reduction the firm has seen since the Great Dark Time of 2002. It’s also nearly five times the 17,345 jobs lost in the same period a year ago. (Click on table below to enlarge.)
An ugly metric, and one that’s likely to grow worse in coming months. Challenger says job cuts have risen five straight quarters. What’s to stop them rising for a sixth? No idea.
“Unfortunately, no industry appears to be immune in this recession,” CEO John Challenger said in a statement. “Even the health care sector, which has consistently added jobs throughout the downturn, is starting to see those gains shrink.” That said, the firm doesn’t see things getting as grim as they did in the 2001 recession. At that time employers announced an average of 145,467 total job cuts each quarter. With only 84,217 cuts announced in the most recent quarter, we’ve still got quite a way to go before we hit that number. Course, we’re also off to a great start…
