November Tech Job Cuts Take Dip, But Trend Is Still Up
Challenger, Gray & Christmas announced job cuts are in for November. The outplacement firm notes that, overall, announced staffing reductions were at their lowest level in nearly two years, dropping 9.6 percent from October numbers. However, once again high tech shows that it knows how to buck a trend. Job cuts were down in the segment, but not by much and the trend line still shows an increase. Here's a summary of the months so far:
| Sector | January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November |
| Electronics | 11,050 | 11,065 | 11,500 | 6,608 | 1,423 | 4,103 | 1,343 | 1,562 | 683 | 10,882 | 4,792 |
| Computer | 22,330 | 3,960 | 5,290 | 1,702 | 15,384 | 2,795 | 1,684 | 75 | 494 | 7,089 | 4,106 |
| Telecom | 13,056 | 5,666 | 250 | 262 | 812 | 802 | 17,601 | 749 | 617 | 226 | 3,810 |
| Total | 46,436 | 20,691 | 17,040 | 8,572 | 17,619 | 7,700 | 20,628 | 2,386 | 1,794 | 18,197 | 12,708 |
The number of cuts was down by 30.1 percent, which is a big short-term improvement. However, the overall trend line, which I just added this time to the chart, shows that although layoffs seemed to have bottomed out in August and September, they're definitely on the rise again. That should be an indication that confidence in the economy isn't as widespread in high tech as it may be in other sectors, and that business continues to be slow to return.
Executioner image via stock.xchng user sateda, standard site license.