CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Widespread layoffs that stem corporate financial losses but leave workers out in the cold would deepen the looming recession that sparked them, a University of Illinois labor expert warns.
Displaced workers with no paychecks or prospects could add a potentially catastrophic drag to a U.S. economy already facing its worst downturn in decades, says Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld, the dean of the School of Labor and Employment Relations.