First, no one is owed a job any more than they are owed a date with a beautiful person, or a steak dinner. Employees are (should be) legally free to leave a job

First, no one is owed a job any more than they are owed a date with a beautiful person, or a steak dinner. Employees are (should be) legally free to leave a job, and employers should be legally free to fire at will, for the same reason that romantic partners should be free. Second, those workers are paid for their efforts as long as they're employees. The word "toil" brings images of slave labor to mind, which is utterly inappropriate in this context. If a person is making less than the objective value of his labor is worth (that is, the market rate), he's free to stop "toiling" and get a better job, if he can find it. When the market changes, the company doesn't need some of its employees. The converse is also true: those employees don't need the company. What they need is to find another arrangement that can put them to the best use available, so that they are working toward a profitable goal (basic overlooked fact: employees are paid today on the expectation that what they do results in profits tomorrow).