There is a long way to go before inequities are overcome. Both groups continue to suffer from an earnings gap, and there are predictions that, at the current rate of change, it will be the year 2073 before salaries are comparable. However, it is possible that changes will accelerate a closing of the gap, he said. The third major trend, according to Rothman, to some extent counteracts the other trends. Workers have a more tenuous link to their jobs in this period of recession, downsizing of companies, buy-outs, unemployment and layoffs.
Organizations view workers as temporary, and paternalism no longer exists.
Consequently, workers do not develop company loyalty and do not expect to spend their working lives with the same company. There is increasing mobility, Rothman said. In companies like IBM, it used to be if you did your job, you had a job. That no longer is so. Companies hire temporary workers and contract workers.