Layoffs in the American Economy

LAYOFFS IN THE CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN ECONOMY

As was true at about this same time in 1991, the Bush Administration and many private economists are contending that the American economy is emerging (or has emerged) from recession. Such claims, true (as may be the case in 1992) or false (as was the case in 1991) mean little to individuals who have lost their jobs and appear to have little chance of regaining them (Barlett and Steele, 1992, p. 25). New job creation in the United States in the spring of 1992 is modest at bestnot at all as has been typical of the American economy emerging from recession in the past. Further, most of the new jobs being created are in the service sector of the economy, and a high proportion of those jobs are at the lower end of the pay scale.

Industrial jobs from the aircraft manufacturing industry to the proverbial widget makers are being lost, and managerial jobs, particularly middle management, positions are also disappearing. The question being asked by millions of Americans concerns the duration of such job losses. In the past, jobs lost during recessions have been largely restored during recovery. The inability or unwillingness of some major American industries, such as automobile manufacturing, to compete with foreign manufacturers, together with the headlong dash by the Bush Administration toward a free trade agreement with Mexico (with its lure of low cost labor for American manufacturers) causes millions of Americans to think that

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Category: Economics - L