An Inclusive Litany

5/6/96

The New York Times on corporate downsizing:
Those who have not lost their jobs and their identities, and do not expect to, are also being traumatized. The witnesses, the people who stay employed but sit next to empty desks and wilting ferns, are grappling with the guilt that psychologists label survivor's syndrome.
[Ed.: An April 23 report by the Labor Department and the Council of Economic Advisors concluded that the phenomenon of "downsizing" that the New York Times purported to describe in its extensive seven-part series didn't exist. Private sector payrolls grew 8.7 percent between January 1993 and March 1996, with faster employment growth than in any other G-7 country. The series, which was later compiled into book form, was extensively criticized in other periodicals for its overreliance on anecdotes and misleading statistics.]