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The Disposable American: Layoffs and Their Consequences
A timely, eye-opening account from an award-winning reporter that reveals how layoffs in America are counterproductive and what companies can do to avoid them and help create jobs, benefiting workers, corporations, and the nation as a whole.
“Effectively wrecks the claim that all this downsizing makes the country more productive, more competitive, more flexible…. A strong case that the whole middle class is at risk.” — The New York Times
Layoffs have become a fact of life in today’s economy; initiated in the mid 1970s, they are now widely expected, and even accepted. It doesn’t have to be that way.
In The Disposable American, Louis Uchitelle offers an eye-opening account of layoffs in America–how they started, their questionable necessity, and their devastating psychological impact on individuals at all income levels. Through portraits of both executives and workers at companies such as Stanley Works, United Airlines, and Citigroup, Uchitelle shows how layoffs are in fact counterproductive, rarely promoting efficiency or profitability in the long term. Recognizing that a global competitive economy makes tightening necessary, Uchitelle offers specific recommendations for government policies that would encourage companies to avoid layoffs and help create jobs.
“Effectively wrecks the claim that all this downsizing makes the country more productive, more competitive, more flexible…. A strong case that the whole middle class is at risk.” — The New York Times
Layoffs have become a fact of life in today’s economy; initiated in the mid 1970s, they are now widely expected, and even accepted. It doesn’t have to be that way.
In The Disposable American, Louis Uchitelle offers an eye-opening account of layoffs in America–how they started, their questionable necessity, and their devastating psychological impact on individuals at all income levels. Through portraits of both executives and workers at companies such as Stanley Works, United Airlines, and Citigroup, Uchitelle shows how layoffs are in fact counterproductive, rarely promoting efficiency or profitability in the long term. Recognizing that a global competitive economy makes tightening necessary, Uchitelle offers specific recommendations for government policies that would encourage companies to avoid layoffs and help create jobs.
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 21, 2009
It's a very difficult read. To see how our government and unions sold us out to corporate America.
The read is especially relevant now in the light of so much corporate malfeasance and executive overpay. The spread between the average citizen and the executives is at 40 to 1 against us to begin with. I am glad the stocks are tanking, as many were artificially inflated so that executives, board members and stockholders made money as more and more people were outsourced or made wholly redundant.
I am mid-way through the book and it's sad to see how little of a premium corporate American places on skills. Not to mention trying to persuade us that we are wholly responsible for our careers and job relevance.
Finished it finally. Remarkable again how simple actions could impact layoffs and employee productivity/happiness. Instead we go for the simple (negative connotation) choice of just purging employees. I think layoffs and downsizing should be called for what they are - progroms. They injure and kill any number of people's confidence and lives.
The read is especially relevant now in the light of so much corporate malfeasance and executive overpay. The spread between the average citizen and the executives is at 40 to 1 against us to begin with. I am glad the stocks are tanking, as many were artificially inflated so that executives, board members and stockholders made money as more and more people were outsourced or made wholly redundant.
I am mid-way through the book and it's sad to see how little of a premium corporate American places on skills. Not to mention trying to persuade us that we are wholly responsible for our careers and job relevance.
Finished it finally. Remarkable again how simple actions could impact layoffs and employee productivity/happiness. Instead we go for the simple (negative connotation) choice of just purging employees. I think layoffs and downsizing should be called for what they are - progroms. They injure and kill any number of people's confidence and lives.
October 27, 2007
Louis Uchitelle writes about economics for the NYTimes. The Disposable American looks at the phenomena of mass layoffs from a variety of perspectives--employee, CEO, politcians (both local and national), etc.--and places them in a historical context.
I thought this was an excellent, though quite depressing, book. The history of the rise of job security is fascinating, as is the history, since the 1970s, of its dismanteling. I liked the way Utichelle combined the broader analysis with case studies of specfic layoffs and personal stories of people who had been let go. Uchitelle looks at costs of layoffs that are not included in corporate cost/benefit analyses. Although the focus is on mass layoffs, the book touches on even broader aspects of American politics and culture.
I thought this was an excellent, though quite depressing, book. The history of the rise of job security is fascinating, as is the history, since the 1970s, of its dismanteling. I liked the way Utichelle combined the broader analysis with case studies of specfic layoffs and personal stories of people who had been let go. Uchitelle looks at costs of layoffs that are not included in corporate cost/benefit analyses. Although the focus is on mass layoffs, the book touches on even broader aspects of American politics and culture.
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June 16, 2020I read The Disposable American by Louis Uchitelle. In it he explores the shift from lifetime employment to job insecurity and layoffs. He writes how in the past corporate layoffs were considered a sign of a company’s failure. He compares that to present day (or rather 2006 when the book was published) where layoffs are a far more acceptable business decision, one that can even boost a company’s stocks upon announcement. The Great Depression brought about greater job security through stronger labor laws. This security began to erode in the 1970s and 80s as workers became responsible for their own job security. One of the main themes of the book is the emotional and economic impact of getting laid off. Rather than blaming the economy or outside forces, Uchitelle writes how dislocated workers blame themselves for losing their jobs. As a result, dislocated workers may feel they lack the necessary skills to be successful or may face mental health issues. Uchitelle also mentions how often times dislocated workers experience a permanent loss of earnings in their next job. This book relates to the work I’m doing as we’re seeing more and more dislocated professionals in addition to low-skilled workers who haven’t had issues finding employment in the past. While the book focuses on conditions before the current economic crisis, it’s still relevant in the sense of dejection and hopelessness I”ve seen in some of the people we’ve worked with. Participants with a twenty year job history in a specialized type of machine work suddenly cannot find anything above minimum wage or even in their field. As the months of job searching roll out it’s easy to notice the mental toll. While the book may be already slightly outdated given current economic circumstances, it’s still an interesting read and can provide insight into the possible experiences of participants.
July 31, 2024
A SOBERING EXAMINATION OF THE REALITY OF LAYOFFS
Louis Uchitelle is a reporter for the New York Times. He wrote in the Introduction to this 2006 book, "(historically) companies tried to avoid layoffs. They were a sign of corporate failure... Over the years, however, the permanent separation of people from their jobs... gradually became standard management practice... [we were promised that] a revitalized corporate America will emerge, once again offering job security, full employment, and rising incomes... But the promised payoff is not on the horizon. The layoffs continue unabated... there has been no return to the old stability... What started as a legitimate response to America's declining hegemony has become an unending, debilitating condition." (Pg. ix)
He observes, "Layoffs, we were told, do not happen to people who improve their skills and are flexible, innovative, congenial, and hardworking. The layoff says you have failed in these endeavors ... You are an inferior worker. The damage to self-esteem from this message is enduring... mental health is not easily restored." (Pg. 7) He notes, "Rather than a skills shortage, millions of American workers have more skills than their jobs require. That is particularly true of the college educated..." (Pg. 66) He states, "we finally incorporated layoffs into our expectations... Each layoff became the victim's problem, not society's, or the victim's fault, and once people had shifted to this view, their employers were free to incorporate layoffs into their tactics and operations." (Pg. 125)
He argues, "America's entrepreneurial energy focused not on production but on the financial maneuvering and the chasing of profits through acquisition ... Raising shareholder value became the great justification for merger and acquisition activity, and out of this breeding ground came a new creature, the corporate raider, who multiplied the acquisitions and reorganizations---and the accompanying layoffs." (Pg. 140)
About NAFTA, he asserts, "an estimated 425,000 to one million jobs had been lost. Most of them disappeared as companies shifted production to Mexico at a much faster pace than they stepped up production in this country to serve the Mexican market... the irony is that ... even if NAFTA had resulted in net job growth---the money never materialized to retrain and reeducate all those caught in the job churning, or the millions of other dislocated workers whose layoffs were not connected to trade." (Pg. 175)
He laments, "The necessary financing [for job retraining, etc.] would have materialized... if the Democrats had kept the White House in the 2000 election. The budget surpluses that accumulated in Clinton's second term would have been drawn down to expand worker training and education---not dissipated through tax cuts---and the stepped-up spending would have made the program successful as a solution for layoffs... But Gore did not win. George W. Bush did, and the budget surplus turned into a deficit." (Pg. 176-177)
This is often a stark, but highly stimulating examination of all aspects of the matter of layoffs, and their effects on the workers.
Louis Uchitelle is a reporter for the New York Times. He wrote in the Introduction to this 2006 book, "(historically) companies tried to avoid layoffs. They were a sign of corporate failure... Over the years, however, the permanent separation of people from their jobs... gradually became standard management practice... [we were promised that] a revitalized corporate America will emerge, once again offering job security, full employment, and rising incomes... But the promised payoff is not on the horizon. The layoffs continue unabated... there has been no return to the old stability... What started as a legitimate response to America's declining hegemony has become an unending, debilitating condition." (Pg. ix)
He observes, "Layoffs, we were told, do not happen to people who improve their skills and are flexible, innovative, congenial, and hardworking. The layoff says you have failed in these endeavors ... You are an inferior worker. The damage to self-esteem from this message is enduring... mental health is not easily restored." (Pg. 7) He notes, "Rather than a skills shortage, millions of American workers have more skills than their jobs require. That is particularly true of the college educated..." (Pg. 66) He states, "we finally incorporated layoffs into our expectations... Each layoff became the victim's problem, not society's, or the victim's fault, and once people had shifted to this view, their employers were free to incorporate layoffs into their tactics and operations." (Pg. 125)
He argues, "America's entrepreneurial energy focused not on production but on the financial maneuvering and the chasing of profits through acquisition ... Raising shareholder value became the great justification for merger and acquisition activity, and out of this breeding ground came a new creature, the corporate raider, who multiplied the acquisitions and reorganizations---and the accompanying layoffs." (Pg. 140)
About NAFTA, he asserts, "an estimated 425,000 to one million jobs had been lost. Most of them disappeared as companies shifted production to Mexico at a much faster pace than they stepped up production in this country to serve the Mexican market... the irony is that ... even if NAFTA had resulted in net job growth---the money never materialized to retrain and reeducate all those caught in the job churning, or the millions of other dislocated workers whose layoffs were not connected to trade." (Pg. 175)
He laments, "The necessary financing [for job retraining, etc.] would have materialized... if the Democrats had kept the White House in the 2000 election. The budget surpluses that accumulated in Clinton's second term would have been drawn down to expand worker training and education---not dissipated through tax cuts---and the stepped-up spending would have made the program successful as a solution for layoffs... But Gore did not win. George W. Bush did, and the budget surplus turned into a deficit." (Pg. 176-177)
This is often a stark, but highly stimulating examination of all aspects of the matter of layoffs, and their effects on the workers.
October 22, 2019
Revelatory book about how layoffs became acceptable practice here in the U.S. and how job security was systematically dismantled. The stories are heartbreaking. I can only hope that we start to implement some of the solutions that Uchitelle lays out in the last chapter. My own father was laid off after decades of loyalty and high performance at a nonprofit hospital. He had plenty of savings and used it to glide into an early retirement, but even in those ideal conditions, I could see the toll it took on his dignity and self-esteem. I would say that it took him a full 2 years to really recover and, again, he went through this under ideal conditions- no longer having the same financial concerns that a layoff in his 30s would have posed. I agree with Uchitelle's assessment that we need a rekindling of a more collectively minded society... together we rise, divided we fall.
December 10, 2020
Thoroughly informative. I especially appreciated the airline perspective as well as the range of losses. It’s a bit dated of course, but many factors are still relevant today. I’d love to see a follow up from this author even in just an article form.
July 1, 2023
Insane to me how so much of this book is still relevant 20ish years later.
March 21, 2015
Every American who has had a dad or a mom or any relative or friend who was laid off and who struggled to find work, or anyone who has themselves struggled to find work would benefit from reading this book and gaining perspective from it. These myths are too easily floated and the turned into gospel. The myth here illustrated perfectly by the example in the book of Say's Law, that supply generates its own demand, used to sell us on the concept that as long as Americans acquire skills and education jobs will become available for them. All of which was just spin to rationalize what was already happening: outsourcing and downsizing of companies. There were fewer jobs so rather than look at that and call it a problem invent a theory and convince people the only flaw is lack of trying on the part of the individual. (How familiar does that still sound forty years later?) These myths are easier to create and spread than they are to debunk, which is why it's great when someone presents such a well-researched case as the author does here. My only mini-complaint was that the opening third was heavy with personal stories, which nine years after publication, probably are less necessary, sadly, but the book picks up a great deal as it goes and covers more theory.
July 1, 2020
After listening to a podcast by the author, I promptly bought a copy of this book. Having been through several layoffs, I relate at a very emotional level to the negative impact that it can have. I felt like this is one area where I can agree with Carol's dad.
It is a complex enough problem that I was concerned about the side effects of his proposed solutions.
It is a complex enough problem that I was concerned about the side effects of his proposed solutions.
June 18, 2008
OK, this book was readable and understandable, I finished it and it moved me, but did I like knowing that our economy is making us more disposable by the year? Not so much...Anyway it's an important read and I recommend it, but if you're already prone to depression, medicate throughout.
December 1, 2007
The evils of StanleyWorks, United Airlines (Indianapolis) maintenance facility, and corporate America.
June 23, 2013
This is excellent. If I ruled the world Everyone will have to read this book and attend extended study groups!
November 5, 2009
Not the best. Dated. The stories of employees were the best. Read to discuss with book club.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews