Something to readJob security
The Disposable American
A reporter's history of how layoffs became routine in the US, and what they cost people
Why it’s worth your time
The Disposable American traces how layoffs in the US went from something big employers resisted to an everyday management tool, and follows what they do to the people let go. If you've been laid off, or fear you might be, it sets your experience inside a much larger history.
Making sense of a layoff
The book · About 6 hours of reading · Buy or borrow
How to get it
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- Read it for the history and the people.
Uchitelle traces how layoffs went from rare to routine in the US and follows executives and workers through them, at companies including Stanley Works and United Airlines. The final chapter, Solutions, sets out his policy ideas.
- Say what happened, plainly, to one person.
Pick someone outside work you trust. Tell them in two or three sentences what the company decided and what it means for you, without explaining why it wasn't your fault. Then tell them one thing from the job you're proud of. It can be as plain as: the company cut a few hundred jobs last month, mine was one of them, I'm working out what's next, and I'm proud of the onboarding guide I wrote.
Good moments for this: after a layoffwhen layoff rumors startwhen you're blaming yourself for being let go
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Making it work for you
Every workplace is different. Here’s what to think about before you start, and what might get in the way.
Things to think about
Uchitelle argues that Americans are taught to treat being laid off as a personal failure, even when the cuts are impersonal. Saying it plainly to a few people early tends to make later conversations, with former colleagues and people who might hire you, easier to start.
What might make this harder
Uchitelle's account of how layoffs became routine can make a rumor feel like a certainty. Skip the conversation for now and write down three things from the last year you're proud of and what each one changed, while the details are fresh.
Questions people ask
What is The Disposable American about?
Louis Uchitelle's 2006 book, written after years covering labor and business for The New York Times, charts the spread of layoffs from the mid-1970s, when big US employers still largely resisted them, to the point where they became routine. It follows executives and workers at companies including Stanley Works, United Airlines and Citigroup, argues that layoffs are overused and often counterproductive, and ends with policy proposals.
Does the book say layoffs are never necessary?
No. Uchitelle accepts that some cutting of labor costs is unavoidable in a global economy. His case is that US employers have taken it too far, and that the costs land on the people let go.
Is The Disposable American still relevant?
Its numbers and examples come from before the 2008 crisis, so it doesn't cover that or more recent waves of layoffs. Its history of how layoffs came to feel normal, and its account of what they do to people, can still help explain the newer rounds.
How do I stop blaming myself after a layoff?
It can help to put the company's decision and your own record on separate pages: what the company was trying to solve, and what you're proud of from the job. Uchitelle's history of how layoffs became routine can help with the first part.
What it says, and how it holds up
If you've been laid off, or you're watching the rounds get closer, it can be hard not to read it as a verdict on you. Uchitelle's book argues that it's mostly a verdict on something else. A Times reporter on business and labor for decades, he traces how layoffs, once seen as a stain on a big employer's reputation, became an accepted tool from the mid-1970s, until by 1997, in his account, the resistance had given way. He follows the people it happened to, blue collar and white collar, and describes the damage to self-esteem at every income level.
His case goes further than the stories. Layoffs, he argues, rarely make companies more efficient or profitable over time; they leave the people who stay feeling vulnerable and less committed; and many are disguised as buyouts, early retirements or outsourcing, so official counts miss them. In an author interview on his publisher's page, he adds that there's no shortage of skills, since fewer jobs need education and skill than there are qualified people looking for them, so retraining and better self-presentation aren't the answer for people who lose good jobs, and he says the job and career coaches who promise otherwise are selling a ruse. The final chapter turns to policy, from requiring companies to report how each departing employee left to curbing the subsidies states use to compete for employers.
Moisés Naím, reviewing it in 2006, called it a nostalgic, anxious book, moving in its stories and uneven in its remedies: he backed some of its proposals and argued hard against others. He argued that it idealizes the job security of the past, that rules making layoffs costlier tend to protect people who already have jobs at the expense of those looking for one, and that it underplays how many new jobs the US economy creates as others disappear. Gerald Cavanagh, writing in America magazine, found it well documented and recommended it to anyone concerned about the future of work. How it reads may depend on whether you take it as economics or as a record of what layoffs cost people.
If you're facing a layoff this month, this is context rather than a plan. It won't help you negotiate severance or find the next role, and its policy argument can't change a decision that's already been made. For the first weeks, practical steps tend to help more, such as applying for unemployment benefits right away and telling a few people who know your work that you're looking; the book may be worth more once you have room to think about what happened.
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Picked by Truest and described in our own words. The original belongs to its creator. Last updated October 9, 2026. We sell a career membership; where that’s relevant above, we say so.