The interesting news here in Atlanta is Delta offering to buy 30,000 employees which amounts to almost 50% of the staff. Included in the announcement, was a reduction of 5% of airline services. This would seem to indicate that you can cut 50% of the staff and only reduce 5% of the service. Ok, I am no expert and all of this could just be smoke and mirrors. That being said, this does have implications of many trends we see in the business world. First, it shows how far we have come in the process automation and business process areas. The majority of information and business exchange can happen without ever talking to anyone at the airline. Second, one has to believe that majority of these positions are staff positions which indicates the continuation of the drop in Fortune 500 employees. I believe the last number I read was 8%; down from 20% just 20 years ago. The trend will continue as Dank Pink pointed out in Free Agent Nation; we will be a world of individuals soon.