›

High-tech layoff tracker

deejayohdeejayoh
edited November 2008 in Seattle Real Estate
Not sure how many have seen this nifty little resource over at the PI.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/venture/layoff.asp

It tracks layoff announcements in the high tech sector

Interesting roll up of stats:

Year /# announced/# jobs
2004 23 967
2005 29 2350
2006 25 1250
2007 26 1214
2008 13 480

Half as many layoff announcements already this year (in Feb) as there were in all of 2005 or 2006

Comments

  • redmondjpredmondjp
    Hmmm,

    Hey Tim, how about (can't believe I'm actually suggesting this) a poll to see how many SB readers are concerned about being included in a layoff or are concerned about the stability/security of their job, in the next year.

    Just speaking for myself, I am concerned that my job could disappear (the whole company of 25 people, really) within the next year. I don't like it.
  • mike2mike2
    Looks like Biotech and Pharm are bearing the brunt of the cuts thus far, with venture funded software and telecom rounding out the rest.
  • perfectfireperfectfire
    I saw a short news segment a few nights ago that talked about the possibility of recession. Basically they had some local "economist" on that said that the rest of the country might go into a recession but Seattle would be okay because of tech. So what is it that inspires people to have such confidence in the tech sector? Does it have a track record of doing fine during downturns?
  • MarkorMarkor
    Many tech companies can thrive in a downturn because well-executed IT improvements can save companies the money they need to survive the downturn. When companies look to cut costs, they often consider IT improvements, esp. ones that can eliminate staff elsewhere.
  • PublicEnemy#1PublicEnemy#1
    Who cares about High Tech.... I would be more concerned about the 3 1/2 hour morale boosting exercise at Starbucks today.

    This reminds me a lot of when I worked for Egghead in Issaquah, right when Terry Strom came in to "save" the company.

    But hey, Seattle will always have things like the Craigslist Missed Connections where you can tell your cute Starbucks barista that you are the double tall soy chai latte or whatever and you think she/he is hot.

    Hehehe!
  • LUCLUC
    I just read the link. I was RIF'ed (i.e., laid-off) by Amgen in Oct 07. Those Oct layoffs are not reflected in the tracker unless there is some sort of reporting delay. BTW, there are more lay-offs coming (inside info) that may or may not include Amgen WA. These lay-offs will either occur in the Mar/Apr timeframe.
  • deejayohdeejayoh
    Markor wrote:
    Many tech companies can thrive in a downturn because well-executed IT improvements can save companies the money they need to survive the downturn. When companies look to cut costs, they often consider IT improvements, esp. ones that can eliminate staff elsewhere.

    or not

    Forrester slashes global IT outlook

    Andrew Bartels, vice president at Forrester, said in a statement that the forecast is based on the assumption a mild recession will hit the U.S. economy in the second or third quarter.

    "While it is by no means certain that the U.S. economy will in fact experience a recession, the risks of one are high enough to justify a more conservative outlook for the IT market." The sheer size of the U.S. market is enough to affect spending globally, he added.
  • rose-colored-coolaidrose-colored-coolaid
    Markor wrote:
    Many tech companies can thrive in a downturn because well-executed IT improvements can save companies the money they need to survive the downturn. When companies look to cut costs, they often consider IT improvements, esp. ones that can eliminate staff elsewhere.

    So...how is buying Vista or Office 2007 going to save any company money? If anything, the new training will be an additional drain and is unlikely to increase productivity.
  • MarkorMarkor
    deejayoh wrote:
    Forrester slashes global IT outlook
    Note that's a slash in a growth rate. After the slash they predict 3% growth in 2008 for IT spending in the US, despite a predicted recession. If they're right, IT skills in the US will be in higher demand at the end of 2008 than now, so the average-skilled (or better) IT-related worker has good employment prospects. Much Microsoft software is bought for IT purposes.
  • MarkorMarkor
    rose-colored-coolaid wrote:
    So...how is buying Vista or Office 2007 going to save any company money? If anything, the new training will be an additional drain and is unlikely to increase productivity.
    An example of an IT improvement: Remember when the check-in clerk at the airport took your ID & ticket and then typed what seemed like hundreds of keystrokes? Now on Southwest I check in by simply inserting into a slot the credit card I bought the ticket with. I read that those old paper tickets used to cost $8 apiece including processing costs.
  • redmondjpredmondjp
    rose-colored-coolaid wrote:
    Markor wrote:
    Many tech companies can thrive in a downturn because well-executed IT improvements can save companies the money they need to survive the downturn. When companies look to cut costs, they often consider IT improvements, esp. ones that can eliminate staff elsewhere.

    So...how is buying Vista or Office 2007 going to save any company money? If anything, the new training will be an additional drain and is unlikely to increase productivity.
    RCC, you're right--it's not, but that's not why most small to mid-size companies upgrade software. My former boss has a really good theory on why companies really upgrade their software, and I think he's onto something:

    An entire company is running Office 2002 (or 2000--some few-year-old version) on all of their machines, and life is good. Then the president, lead salesmen, or CFO gets a new laptop (the bigwigs get the new ones first, and everybody else gets their hand-me-downs) which has the latest version of Office installed on it. They are happy. They start using their new laptop, emailing others within the company using Outlook, and sending Word documents, and (surprise, surprise!) everybody else in the company can't open those emails or documents because their software doesn't recognize the new formats. Bigwig is royally pissed off that nobody can open his/her emails and storms into MIS dept. demanding that the situation gets fixed ASAP. MIS calmly informs Bigwig that there are two choices: wipe off hard drive on new laptop and install 5-year-old software (oh, the horror), or upgrade everybody else in the company to the same, latest version. There you go.

    Having worked at three smaller companies myself, I have personally seen this exact same scenario play out more than once.
  • MarkorMarkor
    redmondjp wrote:
    Having worked at three smaller companies myself, I have personally seen this exact same scenario play out more than once.
    Yep, I call it the "upgrade train". Hard to stay off it.
  • mike2mike2
    redmondjp wrote:
    They start using their new laptop, emailing others within the company using Outlook, and sending Word documents, and (surprise, surprise!) everybody else in the company can't open those emails or documents because their software doesn't recognize the new formats.

    I've run into this with several clients that don't have office 2007 yet. Just this week I sent off some documents to a charitable organization and they couldn't open them. Ironically, this charity is funded by Bill Gates...
  • rose-colored-coolaidrose-colored-coolaid
    Not a bad theory redmondjp. But how about we try this on for size. MS had major releases for its two most profitable lines last year. Under normal circumstances, this would probably cause a lot of upgrades (via your upgrade wave). But combine that with DJO's theory of reduced tech spending and you see something a little more benign over all.
    Markor wrote:
    An example of an IT improvement: Remember when the check-in clerk at the airport took your ID & ticket and then typed what seemed like hundreds of keystrokes? Now on Southwest I check in by simply inserting into a slot the credit card I bought the ticket with. I read that those old paper tickets used to cost $8 apiece including processing costs.

    I agree completely that companies will continue to make these kind of moves. But I don't care what kind of market we are in, if a company can save 2% per transaction with a little hardware (is a $400 airline ticket for domestic flights about average?), they will make the move. I don't disagree with the assertion that tech can cut costs. I only assert that not all tech cuts costs, and that any tech that does significantly cut costs while not harming customer satisfaction will be adopted rapidly in any market. I don't see the modern or historical trend that tech is a hedge against recession.
  • deejayohdeejayoh
    But combine that with DJO's theory of reduced tech spending and you see something a little more benign over all.

    I think it's more a slowing of growth, not a decline. but , other than microsoft what other IT driven "tech" is there in the area? Who are we talking about?

    and real "IT-driven" revenue at Microsoft is probably less than 25% of the total: $3.3B S&T plus ~$1B for MBS - out of $16.4B in the last quarter. I guess you could argue some of Windows and Office sales are, but I wouldn't. Most of Windows is OEM anyway.
  • perfectfireperfectfire
    Tech Crunch now has their own layoff tracker.

    Some recent notables:
    • Oodle - Online Classifieds (including RE classifieds which are picked up by redfin)
    • Jobster - Seattle based
    • AdReady - Seattle based
    • Wild Tangent - Redmond based
    • Faves.com - Seattle based 99% of their workforce which comes out to 2 people (99% of what number equals 2?)
  • EastSiderEastSider
    deejayoh wrote:
    Not sure how many have seen this nifty little resource over at the PI.

    http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/venture/layoff.asp

    It tracks layoff announcements in the high tech sector

    Interesting roll up of stats:

    Year /# announced/# jobs
    2004 23 967
    2005 29 2350
    2006 25 1250
    2007 26 1214
    2008 13 480

    Half as many layoff announcements already this year (in Feb) as there were in all of 2005 or 2006

    Based on this data from http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/venture/layoff.asp , the current total number jobs laid-off seems to be at 981 (approx.) -- which is lesser than each of years from 2005-2007. Does that seem right?
  • deejayohdeejayoh
    EastSider wrote:
    Based on this data from http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/venture/layoff.asp , the current total number jobs laid-off seems to be at 981 (approx.) -- which is lesser than each of years from 2005-2007. Does that seem right?

    nope. Quick perusal of that list I did not see Zillow or Redfin - which I would consider "high tech" as much as some of the other stuff on the list - so I think it has either always been inaccurate, or they've quit updating it very diligently
Sign In or Register to comment.