Tech sector job cuts up 18.8% so far in '05

[swag]

http://www.computerworld.com/careertopics/careers/labor/story/0,10801,105516,00.html

'Job creation simply has not materialized,' says John Challenger

News Story by Todd R. Weiss

OCTOBER 18, 2005 (COMPUTERWORLD) - Technology sector job cuts for the first three quarters of the year were up 18.8% over the same period in 2004, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., a global outplacement company.
For the third quarter of 2005, U.S. businesses in the technology sector cut 41,439 jobs, an increase of 4.3% over the 39,720 jobs cut in the previous quarter, according to the Chicago-based company (see "Tech job cuts show Q2 dip, study says"). For the first three quarters of the year, job cuts in the tech sector are up 18.8% over the same period in 2004, with a total of 140,696 jobs lost. That compares with 118,427 jobs lost in the first three-quarters of last year.

Unlike other U.S. industries that have seen cuts -- even as new jobs were being added -- the tech segment has lost jobs without a similar rate of hiring to offset the cuts, John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in a statement.

"The gradual slowdown in job cuts would be more encouraging if it were complemented by a rise in hiring, but job creation simply has not materialized," Challenger said. "The industry may indeed be recovering when it comes to revenue, profits and earnings, but certainly not when it comes to employment."

. . .

[Deja Q]

1. Gates is a hyp. He talks of the need yet he won't follow thru with jobs.

It puts him as a philanthropist on the same level as the bacteria I found breeding in my dirty sink.

And until jobs create an interest, people are not going to bother.

You don't need to be a psychologist to understand the obvious.

[Warren Stupidity]

4. Uh - microsoft continues to hire and grow.

You might not like them, and you might not like Bill Gates for other reasons, but with respect to tech sector jobs you really can't complain much about Microsoft.

[Deja Q]

9. The jobs go out the door and Gates does nothing to stop the problem.

He contributes to it too.

I have every right to complain.

Or maybe I read your post wrong. Please elaborate.

[Liberal Veteran]

12. Uh, I can...see my post below this one.

And then after reading that, google "microsoft" and "permatemps".

I have absolutely no respect for Microsoft anymore.

[FormerRepublican]

17. You are OBVIOUSLY not a Microsoft insider.

Talk to some (not executives). Then reshape your opinion.

[Liberal Veteran]

8. Damn right he's a hypocrite! Me and 400 people I worked with...

...can tell you what it was like when we got called into a meeting one day and told we'd be out of a job in six months because Microsoft pulled our contract to move the jobs to India. That was after we had managed to meet every single goal they had set for turnaround, speed of answer, and customer satisfaction that we took from the previous company that had a satisfaction survey rating of about 30% and we brought it up to nearly 80% within a few months.

And it's not like we were being paid gobs of money. It was decent for this area, but it still put most of us just in the middle class.

[high density]

18. I've been looking for a software engnineering job for quite a while...

And I still don't see any entry-level jobs listed on Microsoft's website. This annoys me quite a bit as an entry-level candidate myself since Gates keeps bitching about how there's nobody to hire and/or how people should get tech degrees. To be fair, Microsoft does have tons of other jobs listed on their site, but there are many like me who need their first job and are really struggling to find a match.

[BlueWolf]

21. Same here...

We're in the same boat. After I finished college a few years ago with a degree in computer science, I couldn't find anything. There simply are no entry level IT jobs. I suppose it doesn't really surprise me considering how many thousands of experienced IT professionals are desperate for work- companies can hire them with heaps of experience for the same price they would have hired an entry level employee. It's a depressing scene. I'm thinking about giving up on the IT career and going back to school for something altogether different. Anyway, best of luck to you. I know how rough it is out there.

[high density]

22. Good luck to you, too

I'm also considering going back to school, though I hate thinking about spending more $$$$$ on an education. I'm also not sure what to study... I like accounting, too, but I figure that could be next on the offshoring bandwagon.

[BlueWolf]

23. I hear ya

That's funny you mentioned accounting. I was considering going to school to study and not to study accounting for the same reasons. It seems like there's still a pretty healthy demand for accountants, and it's a rather ubiquitous job as they are needed all over the place, but some of it can be done over a wire, and the warning I keep hearing is that any job that can be done over a wire will eventually be off-shored. I'm really jittery after the IT experience I had. Like you were saying, I too would hate to spend money on school just to end up in the same position I'm in now. It seems like certain elements of accounting would be difficult to outsource, especially accounting services for small businesses and individuals, as they wouldn't necessarily have access to the outsourcing firms that the big companies do. But my concern is that even if off-shoring accounting washes away even a small number of accounting jobs, it could create a situation like the IT situation is now- where enough experienced accountants will be out of work to make it nearly impossible for any newcomers to get entry level jobs. Then again, I've been told I worry too much. It's just frustrating. The only Americans benefiting for all this off-shoring are the big corporations and the wealthiest 1% of the population. Shows us all where our "elected" officials' concerns really are.

[FormerRepublican]

2. It's kind of hard to have new jobs in the US...

...when the US is shipping all the jobs to places like India. Even Engineers, who have previously been untouchable, are now having their jobs shipped overseas.

Gates can kiss my posterior. IMO, his policies are as much to blame for people not wanting to enter the field as anyone elses.

If you want career stability, you're not going to find it in tech, and I hope Gates loses enough billions to figure out why.

[Deja Q]

3. While some companies are stupid enough to use winhole, check these out:

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5897997.html
"Windows patch backfires on the security-minded"

:rofl:


And here are some more fun articles about Macrogreed:

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5896041.html

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5899448.html


And one asking if more will ditch MS Office:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/index.php?p=2024

[Erika]

6. Gates is a globalist as is W

Their interest in not in investing in U.S. education or keeping jobs here. W is corporate global king and Gates stands next to him. They could care less about U.S. citizens. W is secluded in private luxury as is Gates. He's got a gated house with a 7 car garage.

[slay]

11. We're shipping all our jobs overseas

Republicans don't care about American jobs, they just want the cheapest labor possible so CORPORATIONS, not people, can make more money. All hail the great race to the bottom! :(

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. So does it make sense that Arlen Spector is sponsoring a bill

that will allow 60,000 foreign techies to get visas for $500.00 each? Is he intentionally trying to discourage Americans from going into the tech fields?

[Deja Q]

7. Our * admin gives foreigners money and breaks to come to America,

learn English and our "culture", and ship them back. (or so I've heard, but I no longer consider her a valid resource for information.)

Cool, huh?

Speaking of education

[The Backlash Cometh]

14. Are we just making it easy for them to create US moles?

Or, oops, did we just stumble on the CIA's next human intelligence recruitment vehicle?

[Erika]

10. I'd say his world corporatists are pulling his strings

and he's obliging.

[The Backlash Cometh]

15. But we're onto them now. We can track them through his campaign

donations.

[lovuian]

13. I think there is going to be a crisis here and a shortage due to

the outsourcing!!! Its going to have a big back lash!!! And remember Cheney is leaving soon!!!:) Gates better wake up the only place that will protect him is the US!!!

[swag]

16. Even worse news about long-term job creation in stevebreeze's thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x165777

[bettyellen]

19. and what happened to thr government report about outsourcing, huh?

swag is on a rampage. i love it.

[swag]

20. Ha, good question. Hi, Bettyellen.

http://www.manufacturingnews.com/news/05/1012/art1.html

The Commerce Department has responded to a half-year-old request by Manufacturing and Technology News for the release a long-awaited study on the issue of "offshore outsourcing" of IT service-sector jobs and high-tech industries. But the 12-page document represented by the agency as its final report is not what was written by its analysts. Rather, it was crafted by political appointees at Commerce and at the White House, according to those familiar with it.

At an estimated cost of $335,000 -- or $28,000 per page -- the document MTN received from the Commerce Department's Technology Administration contains no original research and forsakes its initial intent of providing a balanced view of outsourcing, according to those inside and outside the agency.

The report was requested by Congress in an appropriations bill in December 2003, with a six-month deadline of June 2004. A 12-page version, entitled "Six-Month Assessment of Workforce Globalization In Certain Knowledge-Based Industries," was released on September 8, 2005, as the result of a Freedom of Information Act request that MTN had filed on March 17, 2005. The report, which carries a July 2004 date, has not been posted on the Technology Administration's Web site and is not available to the public.

According to those who have tracked the report's whereabouts, it was completed well before the November 2004 presidential election but was delayed for clearance by the White House and the Republican-controlled Congress due to the controversial nature of the subject. Outsourcing had become a contentious campaign issue, particularly in the swing states.

And more:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nellie-b/trade-paper-digs-for-buri_b_8933.html

[bettyellen]

24. good answer!

good morning swag.
and kick!

[William Bloode]

25. If it's not sending them overseas,

Then it's importing immigrants to do the jobs cheaper. Many of us in the manufacturing industry have had to put up with this for quite some time. Nothing new for us.

I saw last night Lou Dobb's show, that they had some type of bill in congress to SELL 60,000yr work visas for $500 a pop. Talk about selling out America.