The 1990s were all about downsizing, the practice of laying off large numbers of staff in the search for efficiency and profitability．More than 17 million workers were laid off between 1988 and 1995, although about 28 mil lion jobs were added back to the economy.
Two economists at the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas, W．Michael Cox and Richard Alin, reported on the 10 largest downsizers of the 1990—1995 period, which include Digital Equipment, McDonnell Douglas, General Electric, and Kmart．Collective output (sales adjusted for inflation) declined by almost 10 percent．On the other hand, productivity per worker rose nearly 28 percent, compared with a gain of 1.5 percent in the rest of the economy．Says Cox, 'Most of the companies emerged from the downsizing more competitive than before and thus were able to provide greater security to their workers．' The cost? 850,000 workers.
Yet negative outcomes prevailed at many firms．Devastatingly low morale, increased disability claims and suits for wrongful discharge (解雇), and general mistrust of management plague many companies．A study done at the Wharton School examined data on several thousand firms and found that downsizing had little or no effect on earnings or stock market performance．Far more effective were leveraged buyouts (举债全额收购) and portfolio (投资组合) restructuring.
There is some evidence that consistent focus on creating value for share holders, which includes paring unneeded workers, actually increases jobs in the long run, 'Stronger, leaner companies are able to compete in the world market more effectively, and that ultimately draws jobs back to those companies.' That's the opinion of Thomas Copland, a director of McKinsey and Co., a management consulting firm that studied 20 years of data or 1,000 companies in the United States, Canada, Germany, Holland, Belgium, and France．The study revealed that, unlike those in the United States and Canada, the European firms lost jobs in the long term because their returns to shareholders fell between 1970 and 1990.
Although long-run growth is a pleasant prospect for shareholders, the short-term loss of jobs and income has left many employees and their families struggling in the aftermath of downsizing.
The term 'downsizing' in this passage means ______.