The Changing Face of Job Loss in the United States, 1981-1995

Abstract

IN THE FIRST WEEK of January 1996, AT&T announced it was restructuring its operations and reducing its managerial work force by 40,000. This was only the latest a string of widely publicized large labor force reductions announced by major American corporations. The public perceives that corporations are responding to increased competitive pressure by restructuring and downsizing their work forces, particularly their white-collar work forces, to an unprecedented degree and that the workers so displaced are suffering substantial economic hardship. I In this study I examine evidence from Displaced Workers Surveys (DWSs) from 1984 to 1996 to provide a comprehensive picture of the incidence and consequences of job loss between 1981 and 1995 to determine the extent to which labor force data support these perceptions. Data limitations make it difficult to know what groups of workers jobs before the 1980s. The DWSs, which have been regular supplements to the Current Population Survey (CPS) at two-year intervals since 1984, have useful information on job loss, however.2 Specifically, these surveys ask workers if in the past five (past three years the 1994 and 1996 DWSs) they have lost or left a job because of a