Pulse of the Usability SIG: Signs of Spring?
http://www.stcsig.org/usability/newsletter/0204-pulse.html

Quesenbery, Whitney
Usability Interface
2002

Abstract:

The mood on the usability e-lists is somber. At the WinWriters conference in February, every hand in the audience went up when we were asked if we knew someone who was out of work. Successive rounds of budget cuts and layoffs mean that even those who are still employed are on tenterhooks, or working even harder to fill the gaps. On list recently, posts were predicting even harder times ahead and worrying about whether it was time for usability practitioners to look for alternate careers.