hehe, no surprise here. I think it is a standard practice for big companies to lay off older (both in terms of age and technology) and highly paid workers, while on the other hand, hiring young, eager-to-learn, much lower-paid, and have better knowledge of new technology workers. Although they have to do this in a skillful way that not being sued for age discrimination.
I actually think that is whats going on right now in tech companies. SAP had a large, whoosh of a layoff very recently, although they have just seen signs their business is returning. All of the sudden this massive purge, why not last year when business was falling into the abyss and no end in sight? They kept the staff they needed last year but now they see this as the last opportunity to prune the older, expensive middle management before hiring resumes. Some of this is reasonable, after the bubble there were many director level positions that really aren't necessary anymore, there is no dept there. But most of it, imo is strategic targeting. No way to prove this, of course.
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