Technology jobs held up well in 2011

The number of U.S. technology jobs held up well in 2011 despite layoffs announced late in the year, a private research firm said. Challenger, Gray & Christmas said the total of announced job cuts at computer, electronics and telecommunications firms came to 37,038 in 2011, down 21 percent from 2010, when 46,825 layoffs were announced. The total is also a 79 percent drop from 2009, when a record 174,629 layoffs were announced by technology companies. The total number of layoffs announced in 2011 rose to 606,082, 14 percent higher than the 529,973 total for 2010. The pushed the percentage of layoffs announced by technology firms down to a record 6.1 percent of the total, down from 8.8 percent in 2010.