Indeed, it is not yet clear these seeds can take root as long as other trends in job quality continue to undermine worker security and commitment. Why, and what to do about it. This deterioration of job quality generally reflects the reduced power of workers relative to employers. Three areas of economic change have contributed this trend. The first is increased competition.
Globalization is one source of heightened competitiveness.
Deregulation, accelerated technological change, and the greater focus on short-term profits by corporate mangers and shareholders all contribute to this rise in competitiveness as well, opening new industries to competition. The second major change is faster technological change itself. Besides creating new areas of competition, for example, a wide range of telecommunications media, technological change has spurred worker displacement and job redefinition. Studies have shown that even in the best of times, there are several job seekers for every job. Despite its recent fall, unemployment in recent decades has been extensive,5 and an important source of weakened unions.