It's a story about a guy who worked in a paper factory in USA, highly specialized in a rare special kind of paper, and who becomed unemployed because the US factory has been closed and outsourced...
And as he is highly specialized in a rare domain, there is only one (already occupied) place in the country, plus some other guys unemployed having the same specialization, all looking for the same job and this same place !!!
So, after something like 12 or 18 monthes without a job, beeing refused in all other jobs because it's not his specialization, or because he is too old, or because the boss don't want to hire an highly qualified guy to let him make low-end jobs, having no more money, having troubles with his wife and child, he decided simply to kill all the other guys having the same specialization (except one who found a job in a fast-food...) to eliminate competitors...
Finally, he kills the guy who has the job he wants... and as he is now the only one to replace him, he gets the job !
The Ax: Donald E. Westlake: 9780754030959: Amazon.com: Books
If you understand french (sorry, I don't know if there is an english subtittled or dubbed version ???), the novel has been adapted in a movie by Costa-Gavras, with the tittle "Le couperet"... The action takes place in France (at the belgium border) and names are french, but the movie stays quite close to the book for the rest of the story.
Le couperet (2005) - IMDb
