Millions of Cut Jobs Most Likely Won't Return

[Triana]

Because slavedriving companies figured out they can get by with fewer workers doing the jobs of 2-3 people for less pay and make even more $$$....(basically)


Millions of Jobs That Were Cut Won't Likely Return
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 3:27 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Fewer construction workers will be needed. Don't expect as many interior designers or advertising copywriters, either. Retailers will get by with leaner staffs.

The economy is strengthening. But millions of jobs lost in the recession could be gone for good.

And unlike in past recessions, jobs in the beleaguered manufacturing sector aren't the only ones likely lost forever. What sets the Great Recession apart is the variety of jobs that may not return.

That helps explain why economists think it will take at least five years for the economy to regain the 8.2 million jobs wiped out by the recession -- longer than in any other recovery since World War II.

It means that even as the economy strengthens, more Americans could face years out of work. Already, the percentage of the labor force unemployed for six months or longer is 4.3 percent. That's the highest rate on records dating to 1948.

Behind the trend are the cutbacks businesses made in the recession to make up for a loss of customers. To sustain earnings, they became more productive: They found ways to produce the same level of goods or services with fewer workers. Automation, global competition and technological efficiencies helped solidify the trend.

Diminished home equity and investment accounts have made shoppers more cautious, too. And their frugality could endure well into the recovery. That's why fewer retail workers, among others, will likely be needed.



http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/05/13/business/AP-US-Jobs-Gone-for-Good.html?_r=3&scp=6&sq=Duke&st=nyt

[daa]

1. And, as our standard of living declines they will lose customers nt

[d_r]

2. Yep.

I really do think that many businesses used the excuse of a "bad economy" to cut people. People are afraid of going on the job market, and so they are willing to do more for less. There is a "sweet spot" in there for the rich corporations - if they push it to hard, then there isn't enough money for people to buy their products or services. But if it is just bad enough, they can keep workers down.

[TwilightGardener]

3. Fighting for scraps--that's the new reality.

[avaistheone1]

4. This administration can not create jobs fast enough to keep pace with the

jobs our huge corporations are sending offshore.


Prepare yourselves for permanent declining standards of living here at home.

[ixion]

5. The economy is not "strengthening," it's a Dead Man Walking

bound together only by gleeful denial of reality.

[SocialistLez]

6. ..and our "representatives" are not even trying to bring them back. NT