From the 'economy isn't yet in recovery' files:

Back in February, Cisco CEO John Chambers said he was optimistic that Cisco could emerge from the recession without major layoffs.

That doesn't mean Cisco isn't restructuring and reducing staff - which is happening this week. I contacted Cisco today to find out what was going on and received the following statement:

This limited restructuring is part of our ongoing, targeted realignment of resources and was previously discussed on our fiscal second and third quarter 2009 earnings calls. While Cisco constantly manages its business priorities, resources and overall employee alignment as part of our overall business management process, we are sensitive to the impact these decisions have on employees during this challenging economic environment. We are doing everything possible to minimize the impact on employees affected by the limited restructuring.

At the end of the second quarter, Cisco's headcount totaled 67,318 which was a decease of 329 staffers from the end of the first quarter of 2009. At that time, Chambers forecast a near term reduction of between 1,500 to 2,000 jobs at Cisco.

According to my sources, there will be layoffs in 600-700 person range for the Cisco San Jose office alone. That number will become public knowledge soon, as there is a Department of Labor requirement (or so I've been told) that requires that disclosure.

The actual total headcount reduction across all the Cisco offices affected by today's layoff likely won't be made public until Cisco's Q4 2009 call in August.

Good luck to all those involved, losing a job is never easy. If analyst forecasts are correct though, the networking sector could be on track for recovery in 2010. Let's just hope that the recovery is a job-filled recovery.