Tech Layoffs Climb Above 100,000

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Friday is becoming a dreaded day at most companies. What used to be
seen as the start of the weekend is now the day most employees are
advised they no longer have a job.

Since the beginning of the year, IT vendors have slashed more than
19,000 jobs—mostly sales and marketing positions, but also technical
and R&D positions have been affected. Since October, more than
100,000 jobs have been eliminated by IT vendors and solution providers.

Not even the industry stalwarts can escape the economic plague. This
week Google announced layoffs of 5,000 temporary and contract workers
and 100 staff personnel. According to the Wall Street Journal,
Microsoft is considering headcount reductions. And Motorola announced a
reduction in force of 4,000 workers.

While most IT companies remain cautiously optimistic about 2009
prospects and industry heavyweights such as Intel are forecasting a
return to healthy margins, everyone from analysts to IT workers
anticipate more layoffs to come.

The following is a list of layoffs by IT vendors and solution
providers since October 2008 when the economic crisis began. The list,
compiled by Channel Insider, is based on publicly available reports.