Sacramento State engineering and computer science students ? formerly snapped up by company recruiters ? will likely struggle to find jobs when they graduate this year.

A tech wreck began earlier this year with massive closings and layoffs at computer software and manufacturing firms, said Cici Mattiuzzi, assistant to the dean of Career Programs for the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

Observers say jobs in software, hardware, aerospace and engineering will be harder than ever to find after the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington clobbered the already-hurting high-tech industries.

“I used to tell engineering and computer science students, ?You guys are kissed by the gods.? I don?t say that any more,” Mattiuzzi said.

Mattiuzzi helps students plan their careers and, until recently, heavyweights like Intel and Cisco were begging her office for access to Sac State tech students. Hewlett-Packard hired more students from Sac State than any other college in the nation. But now things are different.

“It’s quieted way down,” Mattiuzzi said.

Sac State economics professor Stephen Perez said the technology sector?s boom gave way to bust nearly two years ago after computer sales fell, signaling a general slowdown in the consumer-driven economy.

When the World Trade Center was destroyed, nervous investors lost confidence and dumped stocks. Airlines trimmed the number of scheduled flights. Many tech, aerospace and manufacturing businesses, uncertain before the attacks about whether to hire new employees, did the opposite and laid people off.

“The attacks pushed consumers and businesses over the edge,” Perez said.

According to a John Walter Thompson Specialized Communications report, during the last week of September the aerospace industry laid off more than 8,000 employees, and high-tech companies cut an additional 1,500. The telecommunications and manufacturing sectors laid off another 6,000 employees.

Since Sept. 11, the airline industry has cut more than 21,000 jobs as business and vacation travel has dropped to record lows.

Another survey released last week by Pacific Staffing, a local employment agency, shows that local hiring across the board has dropped off in the last month. Only 56 percent of the 100 largest companies in greater Sacramento ? many of which are tech and manufacturing businesses like Hewlett-Packard and Intel ? plan to do any hiring in October, down from 76 percent in August.

“Every time there is a major crisis, it kicks the job market in the teeth,” Mattiuzzi said.

For 24 years, Mattiuzzi has been analyzing the high-tech, engineering and manufacturing markets to advise students on job prospects when they graduate. The last time she saw a comparable downturn in the job market was in 1991-92, when military downsizing cut thousands of government jobs in research and development.

In 1995-96, jobs opened up in the private sector as Internet, computer and other high-tech businesses gobbled up computer and engineering students before they had even graduated.

Companies even made “reverse offers” to students. Mattiuzzi said that firms desperate to hire top tech talent offered signing bonuses to undergraduates who committed to joining their ranks. If the job promised wasn?t available when the students graduated, the signing company paid another bonus to make amends. Students were being paid to not work.

Until May, Mattiuzzi fielded calls from tech heavyweights like Hewlett-Packard, Intel and Cisco, but in June she noticed that things slowed down. Then Sept. 11 sent shockwaves through the national economy.

Mattiuzzi still gets calls, but now many are from unemployed former students telling her that they are looking for work. “Last week was like a flood. Six former students called me to tell me they were laid off,” she said.

However, some opportunities outside private business are still available to tech graduates.

Mattiuzzi recommends entering teaching or graduate school. The State of California is ratcheting up hiring for its new Department of Information Technology to design and service the immense databases used by agencies such as the Department of Motor Vehicles and the State Franchise Tax Board. And other government jobs in research and development should open up if, as Mattiuzzi expects, government spending for defense rises over the next several years.

Perez holds out hope for the future.

“We haven?t scratched the surface of how we will use computer technology,” he said.

He noted that when electricity was introduced, it took time for technology to develop applications that maximized its use.

“When we figure this out, we?ll be using computers in ways that we haven?t imagined yet,” Perez said. “And then people in high-tech and computers will be in demand again.”

Experts are split over how long the job market will be tight for technology graduates, with estimates ranging from 18 months to four years, according to Mattiuzzi.

Perez isn?t ready to make a prediction about how long before engineering and computer science graduates are in demand. “It?s hard to know. But I?m an optimist. I?d bet sooner rather than later,” he said.