Report: Cisco to Shed 5,000 Jobs

The nation's slow economic recovery isn't just preventing skilled Bay Area workers from returning to full employment. It will also drive another 5,000 tech workers back to the job search next month, according to reports.

Cisco Systems will announce the layoffs of up to 5,000 workers next month, according to the San Jose Mercury News. The tech firm is trying to cut $1 billion of operating costs for the next fiscal year, according to the newspaper, and company CEO John Chambers could formally announce the job cuts as early as tomorrow at Cisco's annual customer convention in Las Vegas.

Despite reporting $1.8 billion in profits on $10.9 billion in sales in a recent quarter, the firm has already cut jobs in the Bay Area this year. Earlier in the spring, Cisco announced the cancellation of its Flip handheld camera division, which put 550 people out of work.

Cisco won't make any official layoff announcements until Aug. 11, according to a company spokeswoman. Investment analyst Brian Marshall of Gleacher & Co. pegged the number of layoffs at 5,000 -- 1,000 workers accepting early retirements and 4,000 layoffs, the newspaper reported.

If it's true, it would be another down in and up-and-down ride for the company, which cut 2,000 jobs in 2009 before adding 5,000 workers in 2010, according to the newspaper.