When these changes are combined, the net effect is no detectable trend. However, this does not necessarily imply that the changes are benign. Women s growing job tenure probably results from the fact that women are now more likely to choose to stay at jobs rather than quit. This may reflect their greater attachment to the labor force, and not that there are more permanent jobs. In fact, men s declining job tenure tells us that permanent jobs are becoming less available.
Employers are now more likely to lay off or fire workers or shut down.
Some in the business press have argued that frequent job changes facilitate ongoing learning and advancement, and that rather than viewing shorter tenure as a setback, it should simply be seen as a change in the patterns and rules of job-holding. And though the earnings penalty associated with changes due to job loss was lower in the 1980s than in the 1970s, it remained a penalty. Also, changing jobs often means loss or reduction of benefits such as pension rights. Closely related to the issue of permanence is the question of mobility over time. Good jobs presumably offer upward mobility.