The phrase "a devastating shift" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe a significant and negative change in a situation, context, or condition.
Example: "The recent economic downturn has led to a devastating shift in the job market, leaving many people unemployed."
Alternatives: "a catastrophic change" or "a profound transformation".
Those who argue that Big Brother has ruined Channel 4 are too apocalyptic – its comedies, documentaries and dramas have continued to out-perform larger broadcasters at the Bafta awards – but there has been a devastating shift in the perception of the network.
It's a devastating shift in the balance of power that happened right under our noses.
(That happened with regard to Scalia, and it could easily happen with Kennedy, who may retire at any time, and which would mark a devastating shift for the court).
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, acknowledged at the recent G20 summit for the first time that they might abandon Greece to its fate a devastating shift from leaders who had always insisted that the euro would survive intact at any price.
When he was grounded by a devastating injury, he shifted his attention to writing about what he knew, and became a busy writer of fiction and nonfiction about flyers and flying, as well as a screenwriter, friend, and collaborator of Ford's.
His series Life Stand Still Here, which began several years ago as a response to a devastating romantic breakup, has shifted into a more ambiguous, darker reflection of personal and cultural discomfort.
A recent book* by Duncan Needham, an economic historian at Cambridge University, suggests that this shift had a devastating impact on the economy: When treasury officials ran the [1979] Budget forecast, they estimated that the "revenue neutral" tax switch would shrink the economy by 1.7%.
It remained the chief city of Armenia until Mongol raids in the 13th century, a devastating earthquake in 1319, and shifting trade routes sent it into an irreparable decline.
The fade-out is slow and hazy — it's a devastating portrayal of the subtle shifts in power that can ruin the blossoming of real love and sympathy between two people.
The heat of a devastating experience can transform us, shifting our engagement in living such that something new results.
Then, when she enters the United States and is detained pending an asylum hearing, the tale shifts to a devastating depiction of the daily trauma faced by a teenager trapped in prison.
