Bright June for Dot.coms

June 28, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Things looked brighter in the beaten-down tech sector with a 67% drop in announced job cuts in June compared to a month earlier.

Outplacement firm Challenge, Gray & Christmas said the month of June saw 684 job cuts, down from May’s 2,078 separations. Compared to the number of jobs cut in the sector in June 2001, the most recent results represented a whopping 93% free fall.

Challenger said June’s job losses bring the total number to 150,047 since the firm began its tech sector job survey two years ago.

Perspectives

Looking at quarterly statistics, the second quarter’s 3,586 were 11% down from the quarter before.

On a year-to-date basis, the 7,607 cuts since January 2002 represent a 90% plunge from the same period a year earlier.

The weakest portion of the dot.com sector were companies providing technical services and products, according to the Challenger report. Companies in this segment announced 390 job reductions or 57% of the June total. It was the second consecutive month and the tenth time in 13 months that the technology firms led other dot.com segments.

Chief Executive Officer John Challenger said the dot.com sector should remain a bit volatile with job cut increases yet to come.

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