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Aussie ICT layoffs: the scorecard

Australia's ICT industry is being hit hard by the global economic crisis, with many companies laying off staff or entering hiring freezes in the past few months. We'll track the cuts on an ongoing basis in this complete list.
Written by Brett Winterford, Contributor

update Australia's ICT industry is being hit hard by the global economic crisis, with many companies laying off staff or entering hiring freezes in the past few months. We'll track the cuts on an ongoing basis in this complete list.

Some companies, like Telstra, Commander and Optima, were losing staff regardless of the crisis, due to other business issues that have, in Commander and Optima's cases, forced the companies to close their doors.

Others, particularly the local arms of global companies such as eBay and EDS, have taken part in global cuts by retrenching some local staff.

But mainly Australian firms like UXC and Optus have also cut staff, while some, such as SMS Management and Technology, have simply reduced their hiring plans.

Internationally, the last few months have seen dramatic cutbacks at the likes of Nortel, Symantec, Xerox, Nokia, Yahoo and Dell, to name a few. It's unclear yet how many have done the same locally without disclosing the cuts.

Fortunately, the hiring climate in Australia's technology industry remains buoyant, with recruiters still trying to build up their banks of skilled workers looking for employment.

This table was last updated on 30 January, 2009.

Company
How many
Date
Further reading
eBay 18 07/10/2008 eBay Australia fires 18 staff
HP/EDS 450 Three-year plan HP/EDS Australia expect to cut 450
Optus 115 20/10/2008 Optus confirms 115 jobs to go
Cellnet Undisclosed 31/10/2008 Cellnet cut jobs in restructure
UXC 12 04/11/2008 Layoffs hit UXC
KAZ (Telstra) 100 24/09/2008 Kaz to fire 100 staff
Telstra 800 18/09/2008 800 sacked as Telstra integrates BigPond
Elders 40 06/08/2008 Elders staff fired as telco arm closed
Engin Undisclosed 05/08/2008 Bleeding Engin bandages wounds
Freshtel Undisclosed 29/08/2008 Freshtel's VoIP dreams turn into a nightmare?
Commander Undisclosed Ongoing Union targets Commander leftovers
Optima Undisclosed 23/10/2008 Optima shut down, assets auctioned off
Yahoo!7 About 10 18/08/2008 Job cuts hit Yahoo!7
National Australia Bank 443 Ongoing NAB confirms further IT job cuts
PacNet 22 14/11/08 PacNet offshores 22 Aussie jobs
Alphawest 33 01/12/08 Alphawest lays off 33
Ericsson 300 02/12/08 Ericsson chops 300 A/NZ workers
IBM Unclear 02/12/08 IBM laying off 2,600 Asia-Pac workers?
3 Mobile Unclear 02/12/08 Contractors go from 3 Mobile
Integ (UXC division) 6 04/12/08 UXC's Integ cuts staff by six
Goldman Sachs JBWere About a dozen 03/12/08 Goldman Sachs cuts IT jobs
ANZ Bank Unknown 08/12/08 ANZ silent on Xmas IT staff cuts
Dialog Unknown 09/12/08 Aussie IT firm Dialog sheds staff
Oakton Single digit % 11/12/08 Oakton joins layoff list
Websense 25 03/12/08 Websense shuts Sydney R&D team down
Logica Unknown 15/12/08 Logica Australia in job cuts
Lenovo Unknown 08/01/09 Australia will feel Lenovo cuts
Vodafone NZ About 20 15/01/09 Redundancies hit Vodafone NZ
Nokia Siemens Networks Less than 15 16/01/09 Australian Nokia-Siemens jobs head offshore
AMD Unknown 19/01/09 AMD job cuts to hit Australia
Microsoft 1 23/01/09 Microsoft cuts skip Australia
Citrix Unknown 29/01/09 Citrix cuts to hit Australia

Any we've missed or should know about? Drop us a line and let us know. We'll keep everything confidential.

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