Investing August 2, 2002

Telecom Sector Still Bleeding Jobs

July 8, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - If the pace of telecommunications job cutting continues into the second half of the year, it will at least meet, if not topple the record set in 2001 of 317,777, according to a survey.

Reported by

Fred Schneyer

In fact, the mid-year industry review by outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas found that 25% of the 735,527 reductions announced by all industries through June were in the telecommunications industry – a record for one industry since the company began tracking employment trends in 1993.

The 165,840 telecommunications cuts from the January to June period were 27% higher than during the same time last year.

Silver Lining

The silver lining to the telecommunications sector’s dark cloud is that employment reductions in other parts of the technology group (computers, electronics, e-commerce) is going down.

Overall, technology-related industries have announced 243,200 job cuts in 2002, 23% lower than the 313,939 technology cuts announced in the first six months of 2001.

However, the ratio of technology job cuts to total job cuts has remained on pace with 2001. This year¹s 243,200 technology cuts represent 33% of all reductions.

That nearly matches the percentage recorded at the end of 2001 when the 695,581 technology cuts represented 36% of the 1,956,876 job cuts announced that year.

The biggest decline in technology cuts has been among e-commerce firms, which have announced 1,741 job cuts through June, down 96% from 49,593 a year ago.