Why layoff workers when company still make profit?

The global economic tsunami which has started since last year has caused many companies to go bankrupt. Many companies are unable to keep operation running without incurring heavy losses. The only option they have is to close down their companies and layoff all the workers.

However, there are some companies that are still making money but not as much as the previous years. Their annual profit may have drop less than 25% but these companies are layoff workers too. Their excuse is to trim the work force so that their company can make more money in the future. Many big American companies just made less profit than the previous years but have started laying off thousand of workers.

If companies are still making profit at this current financial crisis, why must they layoff the workers? To the top management, they just look at their account books and statistic reports trying to make more money to please their shareholders. With a stroke of pen they layoff thousand of workers here and there.

The workers that are layoff will not be able to find another job easily. They have to feed their children, pay the house mortgage and they health care. Where are they going to get the money?

Furthermore, if more people have no jobs, the purchasing power will start to reduce. Companies that produce goods will have less sales and they will start to layoff more workers. These things go in circle and will make the economic worst.

It is advisable for companies that are still making profit or have ample of reserve to cover their current losses not to layoff their workers. Keep their workers by reducing their pay or working days so that the workers could tighten their belt and hopefully work through the current financial crisis.