The Disposable American Summary

In The Disposable American: Layoffs and Their Consequences, Louis Uchitelle utilizes his skills from covering economics for the New York Times and expands on the negative side effects to layoffs. The value of human capital in the eyes of corporations is diminishing as millions of Americans are being laid off against their wishes. Uchitelle asserts that the workers are skilled, but executives are closing manufacturing plants, outsourcing work to a 3rd party, or relocating plants for financial reasons. Throughout the book, Uchitelle argues that layoffs carry lasting damages that far outweigh the temporary improvement in net income and net working capital. Layoffs create lasting damages due to the mental burden and lack of confidence instilled in those affected. Uchitelle met with numerous individuals who experienced layoffs, and they all had similar anxiety about not being good enough, and they believed another layoff was inevitable in the …show more content…
Yet, Uchitelle’s viewpoint showed me that companies can benefit from retaining workers. Additionally, Uchitelle provided a statistic that was shocking. He stated “the United States is the last major industrial democracy in the world without laws specifically directed at job security” (Uchitelle, 2006, p. 224). While I remain competitive with aspirations to lead a company one day, after reading The Disposable American: Layoffs and Their Consequenses I realize there needs to be actionable effective steps taken to promote job security. The United States is lacking behind other countries, and regulating job security will improve the economy and work to obtain the full potential of workers around the country. I do not believe there is anything wrong with layoffs to employees that are continuously not performing well, but workers should not suffer layoffs due to factors outside their