Downsizing on rise at computer companies.

• Position: YOUR LIFE - Brief Article

While telecommunications workers finally are seeing a reprieve from heavy job cutting, downsizing among computer firms is on the rise. Hewlett-Packard, for instance, plans to eliminate 14,500 positions over the next several quarters.

"[This] is one more example of how badly the computer sector is struggling. Among the largest job-cut announcements this year, two have come from computer firms," notes John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of the global outplacement firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., Chicago.

"The biggest question--the one no one seems to be asking--is why are computer firms cutting jobs now. The economy is growing at a healthy pace and employers are adding workers, but the tech sector, which led the expansion of the 1990s, is...