A new survey shows many Iowans are either insecure or unhappy in their jobs. Scott Brooks is a researcher at a Midwest consulting firm and says their annual study found some unexpected trends.Brooks says the study “shows a pretty striking decline in job security. Despite recovering stock markets, companies showing profits and things like that, there’s still aggressive cost control of labor costs, there’s still layoffs and people are still concerned.” Other findings show those at the top of the corporate structure feel more secure in their jobs than those at lower levels. Brooks says not all of the news was bad. Overall confidence in executives was below 50-percent, but most workers had confidence in their own brass. He says “Executive credibility even ticked-up a couple of points after Enron and WorldCom, it went up pretty dramatically after 9-11, that growth has been maintained. So what this is saying is that while I might not have faith in C-E-O’s in general — but our guys are pretty good.” Brooks says people see companies working for the benefit of stockholders, not employees. As a result, Brooks believes employers are vulnerable to a loss of talent when the job market picks up.
