The percentage of IT workers polled who expected their company to be laying off employees over the course of the next few months rose to 27%, up from 18.8% in October. The unemployment rate for employees in computer and math occupations has dropped to an average of 4.5% for Q1-Q3 2004 from an average of 5.6% during Q1-Q3 2003, according to Department of Labor. But the average number of people employed in computer and math occupations during the first three quarters of this year slipped to about 3 mln, down 7,000 from the same period in 2003.