Hi Lizzie and Thread, RE: "Are you seeing hiring in the chip industry?"
I don't work in the chip industry.
RE: "Thats what I am seeing, a small amount of hiring."
The hiring at local companies started in Dec, though I doubt any company would admit they started hiring a bit again, since words like "hiring" and even worse, "expanding", are very bad words to use these days - the word "expansion" has the same ring to it as the word "Enron" in this climate. No one would want to be the first company to say they are expanding, as the E word carries risk given the public's anger over Enron.
And most likely the companies are not expanding. There are two kinds of hiring: filling the gaps or expansion, and I think what we're seeing is "fill-the-gaps" hiring, not expansion hiring. Most local firms probably have 'steady as she goes' plans this year, with modest expansion plans next year economy depending.
As far as the chip industry goes, when I saw the Dec SI post that said Intel would issue more stock to its employees, I cursed because it signaled to me that Intel probably knows the local hiring climate suddenly improved a bit, and if so it means everyone knows, which means the glory days for employers hiring are going to be over. Someone at Intel had the right read on the "pulse" of the local hiring climate. Maybe they should put that person in charge of reading the "pulse" on the market place so the industry gets a better warning when things eventually turn around. Because when things turn, it could very well snag a bit, as the industry has no margin of error built into the inventory systems.
December had other small positive indicators other than the slightly improved local hiring climate, the manufacturing index that came out was better than expected.
However, before getting too optimistic, December was sort of like the following: it was sweltering hot at 110 degrees and then suddenly a nice cool breeze came in that everyone felt. But here's the catch: it made the temp 95 degrees, it is better but still warm. Will the breeze last?
Regards,
Amy J |
