Job insecurity

Interesting:

Since 1979, the research firm ISR has asked workers to react to this statement: ``I am frequently concerned about being laid off.'' In 1982, when unemployment averaged 9.7 percent, 14 percent answered ``yes.'' In 1996, when unemployment was 5.4 percent, the response reached a high of 46 percent. This year, the anxiety level is 35 percent.

In fairness, however, they're probably right. As lifetime employment and cushy union jobs become a faint memory and the creative destruction of the global economy takes its place as the new reality there is a bigger chance that ever people could be suddenly laid off. The flip side, of course, is that it's easier than ever to get a job if you do find yourself pink-slipped.

I'm interested in how much of a role the issue of health insurance plays in to this. One of the biggest anxieties about losing your job is losing your health insurance. If this didn't factor into the equation I think a job loss would be much less traumatic.