The Chicago-based outplacement consulting organisation Challenger, Gray & Christmas has come out with a scary report that forecasts a mammoth 180,000 job cuts in the technology sector in the near future. If the projection is correct, it would be the highest number since 2003.  

The global economic downturn seems to be affecting technology professionals heavily, as the report suggests that telecommunications, electronics and computer industry companies had cut 140,422 jobs in the year to 31 October. The firm tracks job cuts across companies worldwide.

In the third-quarter, the total number of jobs cut was 69,654 in the technology sector.

The authors fear that if the trend continues at the current pace, then the numer of job losses will reach 180,000. Similar crises took place in 2003, when the industry announced total lay-offs of 228,325 across different companies, and in 2001, when 695,581 jobs were lost as the dot-com bubble burst.

In a statement, chief executive John Challenger said, "The tech sector is simply the latest victim in this downturn that began last year with the collapse of the housing market, and quickly spread to the financial markets."

He added that this is a direct impact of reduced IT spending across industries, and that no industry is immune to this downturn. X