Not to mention most workforce reductions are coming from legacy product lines, marginal profit areas, and luxury markets. These are not typically new-hire areas. In my company at least, noone in the up-and-coming product engineering groups are being touched (there are some budget cuts of course, but not personnel). Motorolla is a good example as well. IIRC they are slashing ~70% of their mobile handset division, leaving only their most promising Android development team. They might not be hiring today, but they'll continue to hire new college recruits. The biggest difference for finding a job right now is that the pool is a lot bigger allowing employers to be more selective.