I think a big part of it is that when companies downsized, they often let go the HR people who actually knew what they were doing. This seems to be spot-on. My wife lost her previous job this way. Her company basically slashed everyone who didn't directly bring in profits (i.e., didn't bill for their hours). My wife was one of those who did bring in revenue, but when the decent support staff were gone, there was nobody competent to do the billing or set things up the actual business that they would bill for. Within a few months, they were even less profitable, and multiple entire departments were eliminated, including hers.