Tech Sector Slashed Jobs in 2009

For the first time in half a decade, the U.S. tech industry in 2009 slashed large numbers of skilled workers from its payrolls. The findings, disclosed in a technology trade group’s annual analysis of employment and wage trends in the industry, could slow an overall improvement in the U.S. economy, the group concluded.

Technology companies eliminated 245,600 jobs in 2009, or 4% of the industry’s 5.9 million U.S. workers, according to the latest Cyberstates report released Apr. 28 by TechAmerica, a industry group representing 1,500 companies in electronics, software, and telecommunications. It was the first time the technology industry eliminated jobs since 2004.

Technology manufacturing companies shed the most jobs—112,600—in 2009. Engineering and tech services and the communications field each shed a net 59,000 jobs. Software services firms eliminated 20,700 jobs.

Read More: – By Cliff Edwards, Businessweek

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