Downsizing is a euphemism referring to layoffs initiated by a company in order to cut labor costs by reducing the size of the company. Downsizing can occur at any time, but becomes epidemic in difficult economic times. A euphemism is an expression intended by the speaker to be less offensive, disturbing, or troubling to the listener than the word or phrase it replaces. ...

Layoff means "the failure, refusal or inability of an employer on account of shortage of raw material or the accumulation of stocks or the breakdown of machinery, natural calamity or for any other connected reasons to give employment to the workman whose name is borne on the muster rolls of his industrial establishment and who has not been retrenched".

Downsizing in America

Throughout the last quarter of the 20th century, the manufacturing sector has seen massive downsizing due to increased per-worker productivity, technology advances that have rendered human labor obsolete, and the availability of lower-cost labor overseas. (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

The real or fictional "downsizing boss", an uncaring, selfish individual who lays off workers for his own benefit, has been a favorite villain of the 1990s and 2000s, especially in workplace satire such as Dilbert and The Drew Carey Show. In fiction, this type of person is usually depicted as male, unattractive, lacking in terms of intelligence, personality, and humor, with the air of a "petty tyrant". The 1990s in its most obvious sense refers to the years 1990 to 1999. ... Saddam Hussein shortly after his capture Major controversy over U. S. presidential election (November 7-December 13, 2000) September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on New Yorks World Trade Center and Virginias Pentagon killing almost 3000 people. ... Always Postpone Meetings With Time-Wasting Morons, an early Dilbert book Dilbert animated series, episode 212 Dilbert is a popular American comic strip. ... The Drew Carey Show was an American sitcom starring Drew Carey, set in Cleveland, Ohio. ...

Strategy of Downsizing

Downsizing is typically driven by one of two forces. In the first case, the primary goal of downsizing is to increase a company's profits. This usually occurs when there are other firms in the same industry who are performing better, or when a company needs to reduce excess capacity during times of lower volumes.

In the second case, downsizing is driven by structural, macroeconomic forces. In this case, a company determines that its workers can no longer profitably produce products at current market prices. A company will only employ workers when the per-hour value of their output (marginal productivity of labor) exceeds the cost to employ those workers. If that condition no longer holds, the company will downsize the workforce. Macroeconomics is the economics sub-field of study that considers aggregate behavior, i. ...

Downsizing in the English Language

Downsizing has come to mean much more than job losses, being the word downsize now applied to almost everything. People describe downsizing in their cars, houses and nearly anything else that can be measured or valued.

This has also spawned the opposite term upsize, which means to grow, expand or purchase something larger.