From: Mike N. 

On Thu, 29 Mar 2007 15:10:59 +0100, "Phil Payne"
 wrote:

>I was actually RIFfed by Amdahl in 1992.  One year's salary and outplacement
>assistance, company car retained for three months with free fuel.

  That's fine for the people on the inside with jobs, because you're
insulated from disasters.    For those on the outside looking, it's much
harder  to get hired on than in the US.  Companies in the EU are more
tentative about permanent hiring because
  1.) They don't know for sure that you will turn out to be good.
  2.)  They don't want to take on too many people, then figure out how to
employ them during economic downturns.

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