Who wants to keep their job?

I was going to write a blog about employment opportunities ( or the lack thereof) last year, but decided not to at the time. Recent events and news have changed my mind for me. I read an article yesterday dealing with the fact that our wages have actually gone down in the past 20 years when you factor in inflation and loss of benefits and job security. Employers are in the catbird seat when it comes to hiring decisions and payroll amounts. It seems their whole attitude is one of " be glad you have a job and oh yeah, let me shit on you some more". Unless you have some serious parchment on the wall and the skills most sought after in a particular business, you are shit out of luck. There is always someone younger and hungrier than you these days. In my case, with no college and only 30 years experience in my field, it is tough to find anything better because employers know that I know more than they do so they wouldn't be able to bullshit me like a more inexperienced younger person. Also, with so much reliance on computers to solve their business problems, experience and intuition are not as important anymore. That's a scary thought in the years to come! Maybe nothing will fall down! I watched the recent events in Wisconsin, which amounts to union-busting and at first, I thought "Who needs unions now?" I have since realized that maybe we still need them since employers seem to be hell-bent on taking away most worker rights in the name of budget cutting. Of course, that only pertains to the jobs they are keeping in the US, not those going to India. A little more than 2 years ago, I took a big cut in pay and hours. Things continue to get worse. In the name of "tightening the proverbial belt", my sidekick worked his last day today. Now, I have to do his job and mine for the same pay. As slow as it is, it isn't a problem yet, but any bump in orders will change that. I will be curious to see how well this works out as there is no more room to cut. A one employee company doesn't have many options. It's interesting that production is up, even though the working population is down. Apparently, everyone is working harder for less, just to keep from being replaced by the burgeoning unemployed. I hope that things turn around to the point that we as employees can, at some point, do our own arm-twisting!