Eliminate Unemployment
By Jerome Grossman
7.2 million people have lost their jobs since the start of the recession. The effects of these layoffs have been horrendous on the workers and their families. The recession is making us sick, the employed as well as the unemployed. For most, losing your job means losing your health insurance. You drop your gym membership if you have one. You delay medical care to save the cost. You eat cheaper, less healthy foods. You roam the streets applying for jobs below your skill level, even part-time jobs at low wages just to bring something home. Your skills deteriorate. Your confidence in yourself, in your future and your country begins to melt away.
And it wasn't even necessary
At the office or factory that had trained you in their products and procedures, the decline in business was 20%, so 20% of the capable and trained workers or salespeople or executives were let go. All that experience, all that know-how put onto the street to worry and scrounge and beg the government or another employer for crumbs. Don’t break up an effective organization. Share the pain. Divide the available work among all workers. Prepare for a better future.
The cost reductions to the organization would be the same as the cost reductions realized with layoffs but the organization would remain intact poised for the eventual economic recovery. The cost to the government for unemployment relief would be much lower. Public and private morale would be higher. Increased hope and optimism would improve our mental and physical health. Crime induced by poverty and desperation would decline. Confidence would help to restore our economy. This is the America where we share the pain, help each other out, or do we?
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2 comments:
J. Grossman's idea of each employee working less rather than laying some off certainly is good from a humanitarian point of view.
Unfortunately, there are some practical obstacles. For each employee there is a substantial fixed cost to a company (e.g., office space, personnel staff, management staff, health insurance, workman's compensation, and certain local, state and federal assessments and taxes). So keeping more workers, each working part-time, would cost the company significantly more than laying of a few workers.
Also, sometimes an effective way for a company to cut costs is to eliminate a whole function or group of staff. The function may then be outsourced or given to another group or even eliminated entirely.
Implementing such surgical cuts are best accomplished by laying off individuals.
Finally, the best workers may seek full-time employment at another company rather than take a substantial pay cut from going part time.
Paul Castleman
Hi Jerome
I agree with sharing the pain. That though would have to go right to the top and the top would never agree to sharing their millions. That would work but unwillingness to do that is why we are here today.
If it was just the actual workers that shared the pain instead of 10% we would have 100% hurting. I expect the unemployment rate to be 30% eventually. Despite what they say like everything else touched this too will be the worst in history!
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