technology employment picture

[don]

Though there's talk of the economy slowly but surely making a comeback, layoffs in the tech sector hit their highest level in three years during the first half of 2012, according to a report released today by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

During the first half of the year, 51,529 planned job cuts were announced across the tech sector, representing a 260 percent increase over the 14,308 layoffs planned during the first half of 2011. Things are so bad so far this year that the figure is 39 percent higher than all the job cuts recorded in the tech sector last year.

Hewlett-Packard proved to be the major force behind this year's uptick in planned layoffs, after the company announced in May that it would cut 30,000 jobs. Those layoffs will be completed by the end of fiscal 2014, and shave off 8 percent of HP's entire workforce.

It was also a tough beginning of the year for Sony and Nokia, both of which said they would lay off 10,000 employees. Panasonic and Olympus are also eyeing layoffs to make their operations more nimble.

The issue in the tech sector, according to the outplacement firm, is that success is increasingly finding its way to a short list of companies. All others are hoping they can stay afloat or revive their operations around new ideas. And all of that could lead to more cuts across the industry in the coming months.

"We may see more job cuts from the computer sector in the months ahead," John A. Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said today in a statement. "While consumers and businesses are spending more on technology, the spending appears to favor a handful of companies. Those that are struggling to keep up with the rapidly changing trends and consumer tastes are shuffling workers to new projects or laying them off altogether."

Still, it wasn't all bad news. Challenger, Gray & Christmas said there are still jobs to be had across the industry, especially for those working in mobile app development and data warehousing.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-574...-half-of-2012/

[LazyBoy]

Re: technology employment picture

Yet, companies are quick to tell the government that they need more H1-B visa workers because they can't find enough engineers.


http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012...skilled-labor/

The U.S. economy is being held back because Congress has not made adjustments to a cap on visas for highly skilled workers in eight years, according to analysts from the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program.

The study found that employers want more temporary work visas, known as H-1B, than the government allocates, stymieing their efforts to hire foreign nationals for highly skilled, hard-to-fill jobs.

http://www.therepublic.com/view/loca...rce_1342667336

Competition for the visas is fierce: In the latest round, U.S. employers gobbled up all the available visas within 10 weeks.


...

In the most recent allotment, Cummins obtained 300 H-1B visas, including about 210 for southern Indiana.

“There’s just not enough U.S.-born talent to satisfy the demand in the labor market,” said Lorrie Meyer, Cummins’ executive director of global talent management.

It's the government's fault that employers won't pay enough to get engineers to move to Columbus, Indiana! (And btw, Columbus is pretty nice, by Indiana standards.)

Regardless of location, employers like H-1B visas because they pay about half the going rate for an engineer.

[gwynedd1]

Re: technology employment picture

Yet, companies are quick to tell the government that they need more H1-B visa workers because they can't find enough engineers.


http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012...skilled-labor/



http://www.therepublic.com/view/loca...rce_1342667336



It's the government's fault that employers won't pay enough to get engineers to move to Columbus, Indiana! (And btw, Columbus is pretty nice, by Indiana standards.)

Regardless of location, employers like H-1B visas because they pay about half the going rate for an engineer.

Yep, there is a persistent shortage of workers that will work below market prices.

I remember when Thomas Sowell wondered about the constant "water shortages " in California where he asked the question: "Then why doesn't the price go up"?

There is a glut of people who want to pay less than the market price.

[thriftyandboringinohio]

Re: technology employment picture

Yep, there is a persistent shortage of workers that will work below market prices. ...

+1

[don]

Re: technology employment picture

Yep, there is a persistent shortage of workers that will work below market prices.

File under Incredibly Successful Propaganda: the Jobs Americans Won't Do* . . .

(*for nothing)