Lowe's layoffs raise hard questions
Published June 9, 2017
by Jim Tynen, Civitas Institute, June 8, 2017.
News reports that Lowe’s is laying off 125 tech staff, most of them at its Mooresville HQ, raise hard questions across the political spectrum.
According to the reports, those jobs will be sent to the company’s operations in India, where Lowe’s already employs about a thousand tech personnel.
The company says it will give the laid-off workers severance and outplacement help. But severance runs out. And where do people get placed in jobs, if the jobs are being moved away?
To recognize this is not to favor one political view over another, but to highlight the technological and economic changes that are wreaking havoc with the lives of ordinary Americans. It’s hard to see good answers no matter where you look.
One traditional answer is to get an excellent education. But the people laid off by Lowe’s apparently are highly trained and skilled. Their jobs just disappeared anyway.
Another answer is to grow the economy — that is, “a rising tide lifts all boats.” But what if some of the boats sail off to another continent?
There’s a lot of political talk and drama going on. The hardest question, however, may be how to address these huge shifts in how work is done and who does it.
