Tech companies swing the jobs axe

More than 200,000 jobs have been cut over the last few months in tech companies around the world as the economic slump has eaten into their profits.

While some tech companies, like Hewlett-Packard, have supplemented layoffs with innovative schemes such as voluntary pay cuts, most have found it necessary to prepare for slower growth by cutting back on staff. While the tech sector has suffered the worst -- with telecommunications contributing around half of the overall job losses -- the economic shock has been felt in every sector from food to chemicals.

Among the worst hit in the UK have been British Telecommunications, which on Friday announced additional job cuts that would mostly affect its BT Ignite division, and cable and telecoms company ntl, which said it will lay off 4,300, despite reporting a rise in revenues.

Among smaller job losses, Waterstone's on Thursday announced that it would turn over the operations of its e-commerce site to Amazon.co.uk, affecting 50 jobs, which the company hopes to move to other parts of the company.

While big companies continue to cut jobs, the surviving smaller Internet firms are still facing the prospect of going out of business entirely. StepStone, the recruitment site, said on Wednesday it may need more cash to make it to profitability next year, while Scoot.com told investors on Friday it had sold off its 50 percent stake in Scoot Europe to keep from going bankrupt.

The table shows the date when the cuts were announced and only includes layoffs of 1,000 or more.

SECTORDATEJOB CUTS

TECHNOLOGY

Cisco SystemsApril8,500

Hewlett-PackardJuly6,000

Yahoo!April3,510

IBMJuly1,500

InfineonJuly5,000

PhilipsOver 200110,000

CompaqJuly8,000

ComingJuly1,000

TELECOMS

AlcatelJuly14,000

ntlJuly4,300

AvayaJune-July5,000

SiemensMay-July10,000

LucentJuly15,000-20,000

EricssonJulyUp to 22,000

MotorolaOver 200130,000

MarconiJuly4,000

BTOver 20016,000

NokiaMarch-June1,000

ELECTRONICS AND ENGINEERING

ABBJuly12,000

InvensysMay-July6,000

MANMarch1,200

CooksonOver 20011,960

MEDIA

ReutersJuly1,100

Dun & BradstreetJuly1,700

See also: ZDNet UK's earnings roundup.

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