US dotcom job losses decrease

The worst may be over for dotcoms in the US, according to the latest figures from an outplacement firm that has been following the cull in the internet job market since 1999.

Challenger, Gray & Christmas (CGC) reported that the number of job losses in February was less that that of January, representing the first time in eight months that cuts have not increased month by month.

A total of 11,649 dotcom jobs were cut last month, down nine per cent from the all-time high of 12,828 recorded in January. However, John Challenger, chief executive at CGC, warned that restructuring has not ceased, especially for businesses that rely on advertising for the bulk of their revenue.

"Probably the biggest threat to internet firms right now is a dramatic decline in revenue from online advertising," he said.

Even as CGC's statistics were being reported, new announcements of layoffs were trickling in. Walmart.com, the online arm of the retail store that owns Asda, laid off 24 employees, while shopping site Buy.com axed 125 staff.

Overall in the e-tailing sector, job cuts increased 57 per cent from 1829 in January to 2874 in February. That sector saw the most redundancies out of the nine that CGC tracks.

Technology workers at infrastructure companies took the second biggest hit with 2721 being shown the door last month.

A total of 65,992 jobs have been shaved in the dotcom sector since CGC began its records in December 1999.