One large telecommunications company is planning to eliminate several tech jobs in Rhode Island.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union Local 2323, which represents Verizon Communications‘ Rhode Island employees, recently announced that the company plans to layoff all of its 291 splice-service technicians who have been hired in Rhode Island and Massachusetts since August 2003.

Verizon announced earlier this year that it planned to eliminate 8,000 jobs in the United States. Union leaders are saying they were told 72 Rhode Island employees would lose their jobs and 219 workers in Massachusetts would lose theirs.The company has reportedly declared 1,246 employees in the two states as “surplus,” with 567 of those being splice-service technicians.

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Those who currently have or are seeking IT jobs in Rhode Island are among the most lucky in the state.

Rhode Island’s information industry was the only one to see an over-the-year increase in jobs during September, according to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. The industry employed 10,800 workers during September, down from 10,900 in August, but an increase of 3.8 percent from last year.

The state saw a total non-farm employment of 478,200 workers during September, down from 479,500 during August and a decrease of 2.6 percent from last year. The industry that took the hardest hit was natural resources and mining, which employed 200 workers, the same as August, but a 33.3 percent decrease from last year.

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Rhode Island IT jobs will continue to grow for the next six years.

In June 2008, according to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, Rhode Island’s information industry employed 11,000 people, a 4.8 percent increase from last year.

Rhode Island employment as a whole is expected to increase by more than 55,000 jobs through 2014. Employment that year is projected to reach 573,437, an increase of 10.7 percent or 55,292 jobs from 2004.

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