"If anything, there's going to be a crisis in the 1990's about finding people to fill middle-management positions," she said.

The cuts will mainly affect nonunion and middle-management positions, the company said.

Several years ago, I applied for a middle-management position at Philip Morris.

Mr. Shaffer cited the example of a client who was hired recently for a middle-management position at a Midwestern insurance company.

Recently, I was in the waiting room of a personnel agency that deals primarily with middle-management positions.

But the existing business organization has a great many middle-management positions that are supposed to prepare and test a person.

With the number of middle-management positions sharply cut, where will the information-based organization's top executives come from?

Mr. Massey is 44 and he was laid off three years ago from a middle-management position at a company that handled billing for cable television companies.

Your article glosses over the fact that women are overrepresented in middle-management positions, which are more numerous than the prestige jobs on which you focus.

"Most people in any business wouldn't hire this guy for a middle-management position, let alone consider him for President of the United States."