Gonna rant for a sec sorry if this is obvious.
In personal instances layoffs are rightfully bemoaned and met with anger but I’ve noticed that in the macro they’re increasingly being normalized.
Co-workers at my company even expressed graditude toward management that measures are being taken to avoid layoffs. They’ve viewed as an unfortunate circumstance of the economic climate.
The reality is that layoffs are soley the result of worker exploitation and irresponsible planning. Corporations are rewarded for over-leveraging, operating on razor thin margins, and funneling all realized profits to the top.
There’s no excuse for experiencing exponential growth and profit for decades just to turn around and claim unculpability for letting workers go. Pretending like nothing could have been done to prevent this. As if it hasn’t happened a bunch of times before.
BUT the companies don’t care. They realize the economic conditions that bring about layoffs also bring about desperation for employment. Inflation is up, savings dwindle. Jobs aren’t available. Because all of the employers are in on it. It’s a cartel of exploitation and wage suppression.
So to be employed is to be gracious. Your boss is a savior for keeping you and and blame is deflected when they fire you.
I won’t even get into the fact that the only reason for “economic downturns” is irresponsibly unfettered capitalism. So layoffs in the first place are the direct result of the laid off workers’ work being gambled with leverage to enrich the bosses.
But anyway, we SHOULD demand worker protection regardless of macro economic state. (We should also abolish that economic state and establish worker ownership but that’s another conversation). Every employer should be mandated to protect worker stability with the profits realized during times of peak gains (or exploitation).
That’s like the mildest possible idea and is still viewed as extremism. Instead millions of people are just being manipulated and conditioned into acceptance.