Article April 1, 2002 Issue

When loss is actually gain

By Madelon Maupin Miles

Take a poll among your colleagues, and you might be surprised at the number who have been "downsized" in the past decade or so—some, multiple times. Being told that your job has been eliminated for economic (instead of performance) reasons doesn't make it any easier to pay the bills, especially if you're a parent, a homeowner, twenty-something, or all three.

Last month, United States government announcements declared that "the recession is over," and some economists said it had been too mild to be considered a "true" recession. But as a Wall Street Journal front-page story put it, "Certainly, the millions of Americans who lost their jobs would beg to differ" (March 11, 2002). As would the millions of jobless people in Japan, Argentina, and other nations hit by more severe economic downturns.

When I managed the Los Angeles office of a national outplacement firm in the early and mid-'90s, I saw firsthand that financial challenges were just one aspect of job loss. Equally tough can be the loss of community, routine, familiarity—even one's sense of identity.

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