Dell layoffs (Houston, Dallas, Austin: home, employment, buying)

[corruption]

Well, my boyfriend and I had pretty much wanted to pack it up and move to Austin. But hearing that Dell laid off all those workers has freaked him out pretty much. Would really hate to get there and fight the already unemployed for the same job, but to throw in over a thousand newly unemployed people...it's just scary to think about with the recession going on. I know Texas is not hit as hard as everywhere else..yet.

Maybe they'll go to Dallas where they got like 30k+ new jobs....?

[scongress1234]

I would make sure your boyfriend's field is not related to tech, as AMD just laid off thousands a few days ago as well. Dell just announced a bunch more layoffs at corporate headquarters yesterday, including the good, white-collar positions. Word is they laid off a ream of temps from Spherion as well, though they don't have to announce that in the news figures, as they were never officially working for Dell. It's a scary time for Austin's economy, as they lean on tech for the majority of their well-paying jobs, and don't have much in the way of any other fields, such as corporate headquarters and finance, to bolster much of the high end of the pay scale. Much of Austin leans towards service industry, per the entertainment district and such, and much of the rest, such as the governmental sector, are on pay grades, and don't pay that great. That could put a wallop in the local economy. Per the huge influx of residents that came the last few years, I can easily see a huge run on employment agencies in the future, which are overwhelmed by candidates now in much of the country. Being largely shut out of IT, UT jobs, and state and local gov't jobs, which are hard to get even in good times, you may see a lot of people leave the city if that happens, or queue up in large numbers for anything they can get their hands on. And you can bet that many places will favor long-term locals over recent out-of-staters with ink still dry on their drivers licenses.

[HappyTexan]

They are called "stealth layoffs". If it's under a certain number they do not have to report it to the City. If they don't report it then it doesn't make the news.

[2austin]

Get the facts straight and stop spreading panic.

AMD laid off 215 people from Austin, not thousands

[scongress1234]

Originally Posted by 2austin

Get the facts straight and stop spreading panic.

AMD laid off 215 people from Austin, not thousands

Sorry, I stand corrected. But, there are some pretty large harbingers of bleeding to come, and the 215 may not be isolated as well. Again, hard to say how the tech industry will react to the national slowdown. Perhaps the sector will be resilient and bounce back from it just fine. I do apologize for sounding alarmist on this, and I'm probably carrying it too far, but, on the other hand, again, hard to say how the local tech sector will react. On another positive note, Dell's layoffs are a reflection on their lack of investment in R&D, and being, essentially, a one-trick-pony, just focusing on the paradigm of low-priced custom, internet-based, desktop manufacturing. When consumers started holding onto their desktops, and getting away from buying them period in many cases, focusing on laptops, that paradigm got old, and Dell looked like the glorified plastic-housing assembly plant it was all along. They really didn't have a back-up plan, other than underpricing desktops, and had no skunkworks to come up with more novel ideas or applications. The rest of the local tech market seems to be more high-tech and software based, and able to change and adapt to the times while still thriving. Nothing is writen in stone just yet per the local tech economy, but its worth keeping a good eye on.

[HappyTexan]

Right now, based on what the tech companies just reported for earnings..they are getting the bulk of their profit from overseas, not America.

These are global companies; the overseas profits are their buffer. US only companies don't have that buffer. I'd be more worried about all the banks laying off people as those are while collar workers.

[McDavis]

Lumping hardware and software companies under one umbrella of "technology" is not the best way to view the industry as a whole. Margins are always going to be smaller with a hardware manufacturer than with a software company. There are just a lot more hard costs to factor in. And the layoffs in Austin to date have been more around hardware/manufacturing. I just don't feel like the sky is falling in terms of tech in Austin. It doesn't feel like 2000-2001 even with the current state of the ecomomy as a whole. And believe me, during the tech bust, you could just feel the bad things to come. Now I do feel for the folks in finance and banking. It's quite reminiscent of the dot bomb, and I wouldn't wish something like that on my worst enemy.

[atlanta hope]

Are there other companies that are feeling the slowdown? Specifically design firms? I have noticed that there are less job listings lately. It's making me nervous that I won't be able to get a job now. Already there was competition but if people are getting laid off, there's more competition than ever -- and for fewer jobs.

[Torontonian]

Originally Posted by 2austin

Get the facts straight and stop spreading panic.

AMD laid off 215 people from Austin, not thousands

Those are just full-time employee. They also terminated some folks who were on contract from what I heard. But you're right, it is not "thousands"

[scongress1234]

Originally Posted by McDavis

Lumping hardware and software companies under one umbrella of "technology" is not the best way to view the industry as a whole. Margins are always going to be smaller with a hardware manufacturer than with a software company. There are just a lot more hard costs to factor in. And the layoffs in Austin to date have been more around hardware/manufacturing. I just don't feel like the sky is falling in terms of tech in Austin. It doesn't feel like 2000-2001 even with the current state of the ecomomy as a whole. And believe me, during the tech bust, you could just feel the bad things to come. Now I do feel for the folks in finance and banking. It's quite reminiscent of the dot bomb, and I wouldn't wish something like that on my worst enemy.

True. And Austin is more diversified than it was even back in 2001 economically. Every city learns a lesson after they go through that, just like Houston and Denver. And they adapt and change so it doesn't happen again. Sounds like Austin indeed did that. Many people have come here with their own businesses, whether home or brick-and-mortar based as well. I apologize again for being so alarmist with my earlier post on here, as on reflection it indeed seems as if the city should handle this relatively well. Maybe at worst the economy might go flat for a bit, per hiring freezes and spending cutdowns. Again, it won't be across the board, and, luckily, Austin never had a financial district to speak of, so they don't have to worry about the finance and banking end, though funding might be more difficult to obtain for business, developers, and individuals for a spell.