Jobs Report Good for Tech, But is it Leading or Lagging?

But from the bureau's announcement, here's a nugget that might be of interest to those in the IT space in the U.S.:

The key question: Is this a leading indicator or a lagging indicator?

Companies including Intel, Dell and Lexmark, for example, began headcount reductions or some form of restructuring either last year or early this year - - ahead of the worst of the economic slump. While Dell and Lexmark may have acted more on pressure from the investment community, Intel appears to have shown enough foresight to have positioned itself for even a weak pricing environment.

Sun Microsystems, on the other hand, is moving in the opposite direction.

June 6 is the next jobs report, and perhaps then, after some more shakeout, we'll have a better idea of who are leaders and who are laggards.