LO and Big Layoffs LO5488

ws2@student.open.ac.uk
Fri, 9 Feb 96 14:09:43 GMT

Replying to LO5393 --

Rol Fessenden wrote:

> I feel a lot of concern about downsizing, but the employment
> statistics do not really support this. The reality is that even more
> than 3 million jobs were created in the last five years, and as a
> result, unemployment is now at fairly low levels.

I cannot really agree with that, at least not for central Europe.
It may be true that the USA faces a different situation, but here in
Europe the real rate of unemployment goes up to 20-30% in most developed
countries. The point is that this number consists at least of two parts:
the 'official' unemployed people and the early retired people. We tend to
become 2/3 societies, where only 2/3 has a job (and still a high income),
but the other 1/3 is faced by low income and unemployment.

> The population of middle managers -- primary victims of downsizing --
> is essentiaLy unchanged over the last 10 years. Unemployment among
> middle managers is very low -- around 2%.

Primary vicitms of downsizing are also workers, and not only
middle management. Middle management is still able to protect its
self-interest, and before middle management must leave a company, it is
very likely that the people at the bottom of the hierarchy has to leave.

--
Wolfgang Schmid
e-mail: ws2@student.open.ac.uk
Compuserve: 100101.3210@Compuserve.com ($!!)

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