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Unemployment Hits New High In Silicon Valley

Posted by timothy on from the booms-and-busts dept.

Though there may be some degree of cushion for IT workers in the US generally, Slatterz writes "The steadily climbing unemployment rate in Silicon Valley has reached a shocking four-year high of 6.6 per cent. Recent statistics indicate that the percentage of unemployed workers in the sunny state of California has increased to 7.7 in August — up from 7.4 per cent in July. Jeffrey Lindsay of Bernstein Research explained that a number of Internet firms were chronically overstaffed."

2 of 338 comments (clear)

  1. Australia sucks too by CuteSteveJobs · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Employers are being very picky - they demand an exact skills match. They demand you are already familiar with the exact software package you are using. They're no longer willing to retrain even for permanent roles, or even let you read the manual. It's getting specialized, and IMHO the specialization has got ridiculous. It's no longer enough to be a C++ Programmer for example, if they're hiring a C++ Programmer for Embedded Systems. They can afford to be that fussy. A lot of tech that was popular a few years ago has died out. Don't waste time applying for jobs unless your resume is a perfect match. Instead think about taking some time off to retrain. Java is still in demand for example. Or start your own company. Or switch to something else. IT is fun, I guess, but if you want to make money there are much more lucrative businesses.

  2. Re:Recession vs depression by John+Jamieson · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You said.
    "Everything will shake out as it ALWAYS has - even right after the Great Depression, which gets more and more overrated as the years go by"

    I would argue the opposite. We seem to minimize the great depression.
    1. In all the charts for stock market performance, I NEVER see one that goes back to 1929. Hmmm
    2. If you are talking about corrections, you cannot say "everything will shake out... even right after the great depression".
    First, the correction was the 1929 stock market crash. Second, everything did not shake out, there were people who lived with hunger and poverty for 10+ years.
    Third, many people lost everything. My grandfather lost about $250,000 when the financial institutions collapsed. He never recovered a cent.
    Forth, it may have taken another decade to overcome if it hadn't been for the horrible war.

    You KNOW the great depression was a CATASTROPHIC event. How can you tell? Look at the effect it had on the people who lived through it. They still waste NOTHING, and have a hard time throwing things out. Anything that has that effect on people 70 years later is serious.