It is often said that life can change in the blink of an eye. What isn’t said is why, when, and how many times life can change. When I stop and think back a few months, a few years, or even a couple of decades one thing always holds true, I have constantly changed, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. More recently my focus has been directed towards the US economy and what it’s downward spiral means to my wife and I. Looking back as recent as six months ago our perspective on employment was significantly different than it is today. The wounded and vulnerable status of the United States economy has forced employers and employees alike to take desperate measures and begin operating on a defensive front.

The current and probable future state of the U.S. economy isn’t good for either the employer or the employee. Most people are familiar with the real estate terms buyers and sellers markets and to create a simple analogy the U.S. job market has transformed from a workers market to an employer’s market. Just six months ago the average American worker would probably consider experience, education, and skills as a weapon for landing the bigger, better, deal (job). In what seems like a blink of an eye the average American worker is now coveting that same resume’ to increase job security instead of utilizing it for greener pastures to graze.

It’s getting to the point to where anyone who has a job is grateful to be employed as we should be; there are a lot of families up against the ropes due to layoffs and there are even more families out there that are one unfortunate event from being there themselves. Along with the altered perception employees have regarding their jobs comes some obvious side effects. First, employers will see significant increases in job retention rates meaning people are a lot less likely to move from job to job (the employees who aren’t laid off). I would also venture to guess that there will be a large drop in employee complaints about work policies, schedules, environment, etc… in an effort to increase job security. Let’s be realistic, you’re going to have to be willing to put up with a lot more B.S. on the job now because there are herds of people who are willing to fill your position without complaining about it. This may sound like a golden situation for employers but it’s not. They may have more loyalty from their workers with less complaining but there are significantly fewer jobs to fill and a lot less money in consumers’ pockets which will continue to kill company profits.
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