Technology firms announced 84,217 job cuts in the first quarter, five times more than the number of cuts announced in the same period a year ago, according to a Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. report.
The quarterly total is also 27 percent greater than the number of technology sector job cuts announced in the first quarter and the largest job cut tally for the sector since the fourth quarter of 2002, when 135,511 layoffs were announced.
Tech sector job cuts have increased in each of the last five quarters by an average of 42 percent each quarter.
Challenger, a Chicago-based international outplacement firm, includes telecommunications, computer and electronics firms in its analysis of tech sector job trends.
