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Tech Job Loss Stanched in February

February technology layoffs dropped more than 70 percent from January’s record pace, with more than 33,000 technology jobs displaced. Panasonic announced a cut of 15,000 employees, representing 5 percent of its total work force. “Business conditions have worsened particularly since last October,” Panasonic said in a statement, “due mainly to the rapid appreciation of the […]

Written By: Kathleen A. Martin

Mar 2, 2009

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February technology layoffs dropped more than 70 percent from January’s record pace, with more than 33,000 technology jobs displaced.

Panasonic announced a cut of 15,000 employees, representing 5 percent of its total work force. “Business conditions have worsened particularly since last October,” Panasonic said in a statement, “due mainly to the rapid appreciation of the yen, sluggish consumer spending worldwide and ever-intensified price competition.”

Panasonic announced the proposed closing of 13 manufacturing sites in Japan and 14 others by the end of March 2010. The reduction of work force is expected to be completed at the same time with 50 percent of the job reductions taking place in Japan.

>> CHECK OUT: Top 10 Job Cutting Vendors

Another Japanese manufacturer, Pioneer, announced its departure from the flat television market and a slashing of 27 percent of its work force, roughly 10,000 people.

Pioneer launched the world’s first plasma TV in 1997 and built up a valuable niche among high-end models. "It is extremely painful to give up a business we have built up as a pioneer in the industry," President Susumu Kotani told a news conference.

Pioneer announced the reduction of 6,000 regular employees and 4,000 temporary and contract staff. Those cuts will come on top of the 5,900 jobs it announced last March and December.

The slowing pace of layoffs is a reflection of how many companies are pausing for signs of future recovery in the economy. In January, major technology vendors shed nearly 125,000 jobs from their rolls. Overall, the U.S. economy gave up nearly 700,000 jobs in January, the highest money job loss in 27 years.

While the news continues to be grim for manufacturers, solution providers are offering an alternative and increasing their work forces. According to a recent Channel Insider survey, 40 percent of solution providers are either in the process of hiring new employees or plan to add to their work force in the second half of this year.

Frank Ballatore, CEO of New England Computer Group, has a caution for solution providers that are cutting staff right now. “This is temporary. We have seen cycles like this before, but if you have built your business around solutions and services, this is a great time to grow your business.”

An astounding 67 percent of displaced sales and technical manufacturing employees responded that they are having success with both full-time and contract employment at solution providers.

“It has been a great change,” wrote one respondent. “I work each day on a technology I know inside and out and can work directly in growing a company. This is something I could not do with the big guys.”

Other respondents cited better working environments, opportunity for growth and working closer to home as the key reasons for joining a solution provider.

Since the economic crisis began in September, the technology industry has shed nearly 239,000 jobs. Following is a list of the latest technology layoffs as tracked by Channel Insider.

	Company	Layoffs
February	Agilent Technologies	600
Month Total	AMCC	100
33,868	Cisco	2,000
	Electronic Arts	1,100
	Marvell Semiconductor	46
	Micron Technology	2,000
	NetApp	480
	Nokia	625
	Panasonic	15,000
	Pentair Electronic Packaging	174
	Pioneer	10,000
	Razorfish	70
	STEC Inc	35
	THQ	600
	Western Digital	22
	Xyratex International, Inc.	311
	Yahoo	705

January	AMD	1,100
Month Total	AOL	700
124,320	Attachmate	120
	Autodesk	750
	BlueArc	21
	Bose	1,000
	Circuit City	34,000
	Citrix	460
	Coremetrics	29
	Dell	1,900
	Electoronic Arts	600
	EMC	2,400
	Ericsson	5,000
	Google	100
	Google (contractors)	5,000
	Hitachi	7,000
	IBM	2,850
	Intel	6,000
	Kronos	260
	Lenovo	2,500
	Lexmark	375
	Logitech	500
	Microsoft	5,000
	Motorola	4,000
	NEC	20,000
	Nokia	1,000
	Oracle	500
	Philips	6,000
	SAP	300
	Seagate	800
	Sprint/Nextel	8,000
	Sun	1,300
	Texas Instruments	3,400
	Unisys	1,300
	WatchGuard	55

December	Intrinsyc	95
Month Total	Adobe Systems	600
13,095	Sage North America	150
	AT&T	12,000
	Windstream	170
	Lexmark International	80

November	Kodak	150
Month Total	Spot Runner	115
21,433	Nortel Networks	1,300
	Motorola	3,000
	Nokia	600
	Tektronix	150
	Cadence	625
	AMD	500
	SanDisk	450
	BitTorrent	18
	Insight	240
	Circuit City	3,400
	Imation	200
	Applied Materials	1,800
	National Semiconductor	330
	Sun Microsystems	6,000
	Epicor	300
	KLA-Tencor	900
	Pillar Data Systems	150
	Lawson Software	200
	Lam Research	600
	Akamai	110
	Palm	105
	Quantum	180
	Fring	10

October	Micron	353
Month Total:	Qimonda	3,000
46,281	Jive Software	40
	Actel	60
	Sony Ericsson	2,000
	MPC Computers	200
	Lenovo	50
	Jaxtr	13
	Texas Instruments	300
	Softchoice	65
	Manhattan Associates	150
	HP	24,600
	Dell	8,900
	Xerox	3,000
	ADC Telecoms	325
	BroadSoft	12
	Symantec	788
	Freescale	2,400
	Aliph	25

Tech Job Loss Stanched in February

Kathleen A. Martin

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