A wave of mass job cuts sold as belt-tightening is sweeping through corporate Australia, hiding painful losses that no set of financial statements will ever reveal.

The savings are easy to add up and will please some shareholders no end.

But the hidden costs on people, families and communities are much harder to measure.

Across industries — from finance and retail to mining and e-commerce — headlines about large-scale layoffs have become commonplace.

Each announcement is framed as a sensible response to market pressures.

This is not to say cuts are never needed. Sometimes they are the only means left to improve an organisation’s financial position.

But what is often missed is the quieter consequences that stretch well beyond the organisation’s improved bottom line.

For employees, lo

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