US chip industry expected to be second only to retail in job declines

Electronic News Daily (Harbert) - Even for those who have watched semiconductor manufacturing move offshore over the last 25 years, the numbers are startling. United States semiconductor and other electronic component makers will lose 146,000 jobs between 2008 and 2018, according to a report published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in December. The report ranks the chip industry second highest in terms of projected job loss over the next decade, just below retail department stores...All told, the BLS figures estimate US semiconductor manufacturing employment will have shrunk from an annual high of 676,000 in 2000 to 287,000 by 2018.

According to the BLS report, the number of US management jobs in semiconductor and electronic component manufacturing will drop 35% in the next decade. Chief executive jobs, specifically, are projected to drop 41%.