Telecom unemployment rate better than national average : Unemployment in sector stood at 8.5% in March vs. national average of 9.7%

The unemployment rate in the telecommunications sector stood at 8.5% in March, better than the overall unemployment rate of 9.7%, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, the figures can be misleading as the unemployment rate dropped .1 percentage point from February to March, but the sector actually lost 3,800 jobs. All of the information is preliminary and seasonally adjusted. About 943,000 people were employed in telecom in March. Twelve mass layoff events took place in the sector in February, with 893 people filing unemployment claims.
However, the more telling statistic in the telecom sector is the year-over-year comparison; 46,000 telecommunications jobs have been lost from March 2009 to March 2010. Drilling down further into the information, wireless employment actually ticked up by 200 positions from January to February, now employing 195,400 positions. Employment data by subsector is reported a month behind overall employment figures. The segment is down 1,100 jobs from one year ago. It appears wireline employment is taking the brunt of the hit in the overall telecommunications segment, however, with another 2,400 positions lost between January and February, and a year-to-year loss of 40,200 in wired telecom. The Labor Bureau counted about 612,500 positions in the sector in February. The good news in telecom is the average hourly wage increased while the hours worked dropped a bit. Employees averaged $28.70 an hour in February and worked 39.1 hours a week vs. earning $28.12 an hour in January and working 39.4 hours per week.
Looking at the employment information by states, California lost 600 telecommunications employment positions from January to February, with employment at 109,000. Telecom employment in Florida added another 200 positions to employ 58,200. In Georgia, overall telecom employment was stable momth to month at 50,800, with wireless employment making up 10,900 jobs in the state. One hundred telecom jobs were lost in Kansas from January to February, with 20,000 jobs in the sector in February, but the state does not break out wired vs. wireless employment. Telecom employment in New Jersey was flat at 37,200. In New York, 700 positions were lost from January to February, with telecom employment at 49,800. Texas added another 100 positions, accounting for 89,800 positions in February.
Employment in the computer and electronics products sector remained unchanged from February to March, with 1.09 million people employed in the segment. The unemployment rate increased to 12% in March, from 10.5% in February, however. More than 84,000 jobs in the sector have been lost in the last year. Employment trended downward by 400 jobs to 157,400 jobs in computer and peripheral equipment but increased by 600 jobs the semiconductors and electronic components sub-segment to 361,800 jobs, and another 600 employees were added in the communications equipment subsector, to 119,200 people employed. This was offset by 1,200 positions lost in the electronic instruments subsector, which employs 405,500 people. All numbers are seasonally adjusted. Eighteen mass layoff events took place in February, with 1,538 people filing initial unemployment benefit claims. Average hourly wages dropped slightly from $32.59 per hour in February to $32.04 in March, while the average number of hours worked increased from 40.1 hours to 40.3