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Excite News: "Job Cuts in Tech Sector Soar, Report Finds
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Oct 18, 10:45 AM (ET)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. technology sector suffered another round of widespread layoffs during the third quarter, with computer firms slashing jobs most aggressively, a report said on Monday.

'High-tech job cuts are on the way up as the end of the year approaches,' said John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas. 'Behind this trend is the fact that technology companies have virtually no pricing power,'

Job cuts in technology jumped 60 percent between July and September to 54,701, compared with 34,213 layoffs in the second quarter. Computer companies alone saw job cuts jump 127 percent, to 30,624.

Manufacturers in the sector are having trouble making money since they have been forced to lower prices in order to attract consumers, Challenger said. So they end up firing workers in order to maintain healthy profit margins.

Worse yet, the growing number of layoffs is not being countered by any move to hire, Challenger added.

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