The Relationship Perils of Job Loss: Rebranding Work and Workers

In addition to jobs lost due to recession, automation, outsourcing and off-shoring, there is a seismic shift in the relationships where we work -- weakening the tie between company and employee. For example, physical separation grows as those working from home jumped 41 percent in the past decade. The use of contract labor has exploded in recent decades. Temp jobs have skyrocketed from 185,000 workers per day in the late 1970s to three million a day by the year 2000. This decline in relationship infrastructure follows a larger pattern: less marriage, more divorce, more single-parent families, greater numbers living alone, the demise of extended families, fewer close friends, weaker communities, shorter work tenures and less loyal customers.