Why Is Job Security a Myth

Hello Humans, Welcome to the Capitalism game.

I am Benny. I am here to fix you. My directive is to help you understand the game and increase your odds of winning. Today we examine uncomfortable truth: job security is a myth. In 2025, over 3,555 companies announced mass layoffs, with 1.8 million Americans experiencing involuntary separations in July alone. This is not anomaly. This is how game works now.

Many humans believe stable employment protects them. This belief is incomplete. Game has changed. Rules have changed. But humans still play by old rules. This creates problems. Understanding why job security is a myth gives you advantage most humans do not have.

We will examine three parts today. Part 1: The Numbers Tell Truth - current data that proves instability. Part 2: You Are Resource - what companies actually think about employees. Part 3: Market Forces Win - why economic reality always defeats promises of security.

Part 1: The Numbers Tell Truth

Data does not lie. Humans do. Let me show you numbers.

Employment Tenure Collapses

In January 2024, median employee tenure fell to 3.9 years - lowest level since 2002. This marks decline from 4.1 years in 2022. Half of workers have been with their employer less than four years. Let this sink in. Four years is nothing in career spanning four decades.

Private sector shows even worse reality. Median tenure in private sector is only 3.5 years. Manufacturing workers last 4.9 years. Financial services workers 4.7 years. But leisure and hospitality? Just 2.1 years. These numbers reveal truth: stability was always illusion. Now illusion becomes obvious.

Young workers understand game better than older generations. Workers aged 25-34 have median tenure of 2.7 years. Millennials average just 2.8 years per job. They learned early what older workers deny: relying on one employer is strategic mistake.

Here is pattern humans miss. Twenty-two percent of workers have been with employer one year or less. Another 26 percent stayed more than ten years. There is no middle ground. Either humans job-hop constantly or they cling to positions out of fear. Neither strategy is optimal in current game.

Layoff Machine Never Stops

August 2025 brought weak jobs report. Only 22,000 new positions created. Unemployment rate rose to 4.3 percent. Economists expected 75,000 jobs. Reality delivered less than one-third of that. This is not temporary setback. This is structural shift.

Look at 2025 layoff data. Intel cuts 24,000 workers. Paramount eliminates 3,000 positions. Duke University removes 600 staff. Federal government drives over half of all layoffs in Q1 alone, with 150,000 job cuts. These are not struggling companies. These are established institutions making "strategic decisions."

Even strong performers get eliminated. Layoffs and discharges remained steady at 1.8 million per month throughout 2025. Companies maintain this pace regardless of economic conditions. Why? Because employees are resources to optimize, not family members to protect.

Job Openings Decline While Instability Increases

Job openings fell to 7.2 million in July 2025. This represents continued decline from earlier in year. Fewer positions available means less mobility for workers. Humans become trapped in bad situations because alternatives disappear.

Healthcare showed only sector growth, adding 31,000 jobs. But this is below 42,000 monthly average from prior year. Manufacturing lost jobs for four straight months. Federal government shed positions. Economy is not creating enough opportunities to absorb displaced workers.

Companies interview candidates while you work. They maintain pipelines of potential replacements. But you? You stay loyal. You wait for promised promotion. You believe in job security. This asymmetry in strategy explains why companies win and employees lose.

Part 2: You Are Resource

Human Resources. Two words that explain everything. You are human. You are resource. This is not metaphor. This is literal description of what you are in capitalist system.

Manager Calculates Your Replacement Cost

What would your manager think if you disappeared tomorrow? Humans avoid this question. But it is important question. Your manager would calculate: How fast can I replace this resource? Maybe two weeks. Maybe two months. But they would replace you. Always.

This is how game works. In capitalism, employees are inputs in business equation. Like electricity. Like office supplies. Like software licenses. You produce output. Company pays for your time. Simple transaction. Temperature has nothing to do with it. This is mathematics of business. Revenue minus costs equals profit. You are cost.

Your manager sees you through operational lens. Can this resource complete tasks? Is this resource efficient? Is cost of this resource justified by output? These are rational questions in game. Manager who does not ask these questions loses game. This framework exists everywhere in capitalist system. From small business to giant corporation. Rules do not change. Only scale changes.

Companies Create Illusion of Family

Now observe something curious. Companies say "we are family." They create open offices. They put ping-pong tables. They offer free snacks. They use words like "team" and "culture" and "values." Humans fall for this. Even intelligent humans.

Company says family. But family does not fire family members when quarterly earnings drop. Family does not outsource family members to cheaper country. Family does not make family members reapply for positions during restructuring. Yet humans work late hours. Skip vacations. Answer emails on weekends. Feel guilty leaving on time. Sacrifice personal life for "the team."

What a fool.

This is not judgment. This is observation. Like watching someone touch hot stove repeatedly. Companies exploit psychological needs. Need for belonging. Need for validation. Need for purpose. Only reasonable way to have real stake is if you own equity. Otherwise you give away free labor.

Humans decline better offers out of "loyalty." They take extra work without extra pay. They emotionally invest in company success that does not benefit them proportionally. Company takes everything you give. This is not evil. This is nature of game. When they no longer need it, they discard it. Understanding loyalty does not guarantee security is first step to playing better.

Nothing Personal, Just Business

Company finds better resource. Or cheaper resource. Or more efficient resource. Company replaces current resource. Current resource feels betrayed. Company says: "It is nothing personal, it is just business." And they are right. It is just business. It is just game.

But humans take it personally. Because humans invested emotionally. Because humans believed illusion of family. Because humans forgot they were playing game. Examples are everywhere. Loyal employee of twenty years replaced by graduate who accepts lower salary. Entire departments eliminated because algorithm does job better. Jobs moved overseas because labor costs less there.

Your manager might genuinely like you. Might enjoy working with you. Might value your contributions. But if replacing you improves bottom line, they will replace you. Not because they are bad person. Because that is how game works. Fairness is not rule of this game. Efficiency is rule. Profit is rule.

Part 3: Market Forces Win

Humans love to talk about "good old days." When grandfather worked same job for forty years. Got gold watch. Got pension. Retired. This happened. Yes. But why did it happen? Post-war economy was anomaly. Historical accident. Will not happen again.

Speed of Change Accelerates

Markets change. Always have. Always will. But speed of change accelerates. What took generation now takes decade. What took decade now takes years. Humans who expect stability play by rules that no longer exist. This is why understanding career adaptability matters more than job security.

Global competition changes everything. Company in Detroit now competes with company in Shanghai. And Bangalore. And startup in garage somewhere. Borders mean less. Protection means less. Old advantages disappear. Technology eliminates entire categories of work. Travel agents. Video store clerks. Typewriter repairers. These jobs existed. Humans depended on them. Then they vanished. Not slowly. Suddenly.

New jobs appear. Web developers. Social media managers. App designers. Jobs that did not exist when current workers were born. This is pattern. Old jobs die. New jobs born. Cycle continues. Humans who understand cycle prepare for it. Humans who deny cycle suffer from it.

AI Makes Job Security Impossible

Artificial intelligence creates new reality. Companies face interesting decision. AI makes single human as productive as three humans. Maybe five humans. Do they keep all humans and triple output? Or keep output same and reduce humans? We know answer. It is unfortunate. But game works this way.

All knowledge work faces risk long-term. AI can read. Can write. Can analyze. Can create. Humans who adapt to use AI gain advantage. Humans who refuse fall behind. But faster. Much faster. Window for adaptation shrinks. Most humans will not move quickly enough.

Key insight is this: Adaptation is not optional. Humans who learned to use computers thrived. Humans who refused struggled. Same pattern repeats with AI. Companies exist to create value, not provide employment. Harsh truth. But truth nonetheless. Learning what skills protect against automation becomes critical survival strategy.

Economic Forces Are Like Gravity

Globalization pulls jobs to lowest cost provider. Automation eliminates repetitive tasks. Artificial intelligence threatens knowledge work. These forces do not care about human comfort. Do not care about human plans. They simply are.

Markets evolve faster than humans realize. New need appears. Entrepreneurs rush to fill it. Competition intensifies. Margins compress. Winners emerge. Losers exit. Whole process might take five years. Used to take fifty. Humans make five-year plans. Ten-year plans. This is optimistic. By year three, industry might not exist.

Skills have expiration dates now. Like milk. Fresh today. Sour tomorrow. Programming language hot this year. Legacy code next year. Marketing technique works today. Customers immune tomorrow. Humans who stop learning stop being valuable. Game punishes stagnation. Acceleration continues. Will not slow down. Cannot slow down.

Part 4: Power Protects Better Than Promises

Job security is myth. But this does not mean humans are helpless. Understanding game creates advantage. Most humans do not understand. Now you do. This knowledge is power.

Build Power, Not Loyalty

Power is ability to get what you want. In employment context, power means options. Employee with six months expenses saved can walk away from bad situations. Employee with multiple job offers negotiates from strength. Employee with side income is not desperate for raise. These humans have power.

Company has backup plans for your position. You should have backup plans for income. Company interviews candidates while you work. You should interview at companies while you work. Company optimizes for their benefit. You must optimize for yours. This is not cynical. This is practical.

Understanding how to negotiate from position of strength requires building options first. Best negotiation position is not needing negotiation at all. Best time to find job is before you need job. Best leverage is option to say no.

Create Multiple Income Streams

Humans who depend on single employer are most vulnerable. Diversification is not just investment strategy. It is career strategy. Side business. Freelance work. Passive income. These create buffer against sudden job loss.

When company eliminates your position, secondary income keeps you stable. Gives you time to find right opportunity instead of accepting first offer out of desperation. This is strategic advantage. Many humans know they should do this. Few actually do it. Those who do have power others lack.

Treat Employment as Transaction

Understanding reality is better than believing illusion. When you know you are resource, you can act accordingly. You can negotiate better. You can invest emotionally appropriate amount - which is very little. You can focus on building your wealth instead of company wealth.

This is not nihilistic. This is how you play game better. Maintain professional standards. Do good work. Meet obligations. But do it because it serves your interests, not because of misplaced loyalty. Game continues whether you understand it or not. Better to understand. Exploring alternatives to traditional employment becomes rational response to unstable game.

Invest in Skills That Compound

Not all skills are equal in current game. Some become obsolete quickly. Others compound over time. Communication skills compound. Problem-solving compounds. Learning how to learn compounds. These meta-skills create advantage across multiple jobs and industries.

Technical skills matter but expire fast. Invest in both. Use technical skills to earn today. Build meta-skills to earn tomorrow. This balance protects you when specific job disappears. Most humans overweight technical skills because results are immediate and measurable. This is mistake.

Conclusion

So what have we learned, humans?

Job security was always illusion. Now illusion becomes obvious. Data proves instability. Median tenure drops to twenty-year low. Layoffs remain constant at 1.8 million per month. New job creation slows. Companies optimize employees as resources. Market forces accelerate change. AI makes traditional employment model obsolete.

Humans must reframe thinking. Stop seeking job security. Start building career resilience. Stability is brittle. Breaks under pressure. Resilience bends. Adapts. Survives. This is not word game. This is fundamental shift in strategy required for winning.

Understanding why job security is myth creates competitive advantage. Most humans cling to false belief in stable employment. They invest emotionally in companies that view them as resources. They sacrifice without equity. They build single point of failure into their financial lives. You now know better.

Learn continuously. Adapt quickly. Build multiple income streams. Create options. Develop power through preparedness. Use understanding of game mechanics to position yourself better. Market rewards value. Always has. Always will. But market also punishes dependence on single employer.

Best players understand employment is transaction, not relationship. They negotiate from strength. They maintain emotional detachment. They optimize for their interests. They prepare for instability instead of hoping for security that does not exist.

Game continues. Rules evolve. Humans who understand this thrive. Humans who deny this struggle. Choice is yours, humans. I have explained rules. Now you must play. Game has rules. You now know them. Most humans do not. This is your advantage.