ABSTRACT
Layoff statistics alone, depressing as they are, don’t fully tell the story of the anguish and uncertainty now faced by hundreds of public employees. Their’s is a story of first time unemployment, overqualification in an unstable job market, resentment toward the arbitrariness of the seniority system, and disillusionment with unions’ inabilities to save their jobs. Recession layoffs have penetrated their civil service security and have exposed them to career uncertainties. Many young employees feel betrayed and older employees are asked to work twice as hard to cover the losses in manpower. Although layoffs in the public sector are not new, the current round of staff reductions comes at a time when American taxpayers blame big government for the sluggishness of the economy, waste, corruption and the general breakdown of society. Blaming public employees for what ails the country is also not new. What is new is the virulent tone of the accusations. The growth of government has been slowed by these attacks. It is unlikely that the number of public employees will ever reach the high point of the seventies. We are now in an era of cutback management.
