The Invisible Majority

Re Why Work Isn’t Working,September

Thank you for publishing Kevin McCabe’s excellent article describing exactly the impacts of downsizing and the toxic office politics it often gives rise to.

Contrary to what many people assume, it is not easy for a man in late middle age to find a new, career-track, full-time job within a month or two of being downsized. Too many people assume that the man who has lost a job must be living on EI or welfare, or, according to some mainstream publications, is a lazy Baby Boomer living off the system and relying on younger generations to pay into CPP and Medicare on his behalf. He is thought to be doing nothing with his time, moping around in his home all day. Efforts at self-employment are dismissed, not taken seriously or are referred to mockingly.

There seems to be a tendency to blame the person downsized—that he was somehow responsible for not being able to hold down a job. There is a lack of awareness that downsizing and “restructuring” and multiple layoffs have been going on for at least 25 years in corporate North America, and most often the individual affected is not responsible for the decision, which is frequently made at distant corporate offices.