flickr: DeusXFlorida

TV journalists are losing their jobs at two-thirds the rate they did in 2008, signaling good news for all who are still hanging on, Vocus reported today.

From January to June, TV news experienced a net job loss of 401, with 1,006 journalists losing their jobs and 605 were hired (or re-hired). If the layoffs occur at the same rate, that’ll be about 800 jobs lost for the year compared to 1,264 in 2008.

Note that these numbers appear to mix the number of positions available to TV journos and the number of journos working. In other words, the 605 who were hired from January to June of this year could be entering the field from other professions or college, which would mean that more than 1,000 TV journos are still out of work. On the other hand, some of those thousand undoubtedly left for other jobs—public relations or the like—and some are bound by noncompete clauses, as Vocus’ editor in chief Michael Blankenheim explains.

Regardless, 800 jobs cut in a year compared to 1,200? We’ll take that news any day.