by Laura Conaway

Some of you might remember Daniel Cross, aka @engineer27. He's a circuit designer in Florida who got furloughed, then laid off, then hired by a new company for less money, then laid off again, all in the last 12 months. Cross writes:

Like the hot and humid air here in South Florida, the market for technology work in June and July has been completely motionless, even stifling. However, as August begins, just as the tropical winds begin to pick up, we are starting to see some hiring action occurring. One person in our networking group has accepted an offer, and word-of-mouth reports indicate that the slew of job ads and recruiter postings are for "real" jobs. Still, employers right now have their pick of qualified candidates, with 10-50 qualified local applicants for each position.

Hiring firms also save by lowballing salary offers, not offering relocation, and more. Not all of them get away with squeezing their employees, however. A friend in IT just jumped to a new company when her previous employer cut her pay and reduced her flexibility of work hours (she is a new mom).

In summary, the job market is up to "really tough" from "abominable."