The Search for Stability While Work is Changing

The second contextual theme that emerged in interviews was a near-universal quest for stability. When we asked workers what they most wanted from their work, the most common answer was stability. The workers seeking stability through their jobs overwhelmingly desired employer-provided benefits like health insurance and paid time off. They often viewed the prospect of a job change through the lens of access to benefits, with a job loss equating to a (potentially catastrophic) loss of stability and benefits. Most mid-career and older workers desired job security and few wanted any job change at all.

This consistent desire of workers for stability is at odds with the changes that technology will propel. Technological change is the opposite of stability. Workplace technology like artificial intelligence and automation will alter the organization and nature of work, the demand for skills, the tasks involved in existing and new occupations, and the requirements for a good living. Some workers will need to adapt to new job activities and new technologies on the job, while others might need to develop entirely new skills—or change jobs altogether. The workers who will experience these changes will be even more vulnerable to instability because of the connection between employment and benefits and the limitations of the social safety net.

The looming displacement of administrative and clerical jobs also present a threat to workers’ stability. A surprising number of administrative and clerical workers whom we interviewed previously worked in fast-growing care and other “pink-collar” jobs like social work and education, which failed to provide them with the stability and benefits they desired. These workers described finding satisfaction in better quality and more stable clerical and administrative jobs, which are projected to shrink by several hundred thousand positions in the next 10 years alone. In comparison, the care jobs that will grow fastest over the next decade are much lower quality with poor pay, working conditions, and stability. Much greater attention is required from policymakers to ensure the jobs of the future—like care jobs—are good jobs that provide workers with the security and stability they desire.

Workers looked to jobs as a route to security, stability, and benefits

When we asked what workers want from their jobs, stability was the dominant theme. Most often, workers said they wanted security, a stable paycheck, and benefits. Often, workers reported that there were other career options that held more appeal to them, but they valued stability and benefits more. Most interviewees said that they did not want any job change at all.

Job security and the ability to count on a consistent paycheck was especially important to many of the workers we interviewed who faced precarious economic circumstances. One grocery manager, 25, “wanted to be a game developer for a long time,” but “I started looking” into it “and learning the coding and everything. It’s just that the industry is very fluctuating. One day, you’ll work on a game, the next day, we’ll it’s sold, we’re done, laid off and it just doesn’t seem a very stable place.” This manager knew that "I need something that I know is going to be there.”

The connection between jobs and benefits exposes workers to even greater instability when jobs change or are displaced

The structural constraints facing workers shape this overriding concern for stability. Today, the safety net for American workers and their families is tied to employer-provided benefits. A job is not just a paycheck for workers whose employers provide these benefits—it is also their security and their access to life-saving benefits that they count on for their families.

Overwhelmingly, workers expressed a desire for—and a reliance on—employer-provided benefits like health insurance, paid time off, unemployment and disability benefits, and retirement contributions. A retail cashier, 39, summed up this connection: the job "pays my mortgage and keeps my daughter in day care. It is insurance, so my kids can get their health exams. It is a 401(k) so when I retire at 80, there is something there. This job is a steady paycheck, a 401(k), health insurance.”

The reliance on employer-provided benefits also locks workers into jobs and limits workers’ ability to connect to new and potentially better opportunities. Several workers expressed dissatisfaction in their jobs but felt they could not leave their positions because of their need for health insurance. This was especially true for workers who were providing for children. A grocery courtesy clerk, 25, said that the “great” benefits are “one of the reasons I’ve stayed there so long….When morale was low, when I wasn’t comfortable doing my own thing, I wanted to leave but the insurance kept me there.” A grocery manager, 45, put it more bluntly: “I pretty much hate my job, more or less. But it is a job, and it has benefits; I have a lot of vacation.”

The connection between jobs, stability, and benefits makes potential job changes and disruptions even more destabilizing for workers. This is true for any job disruptions, including those caused by automation and technological change. A retail cashier, 39, discussed this reality and the decisions she faced when her job was automated. “I was told I could either severance out, because I have more than five years with the company or take another position. I can’t severance. I need health insurance and 401(k), I have kids. I have paid time off. I am full time.”

Older workers express the greatest desire for stability and aversion to change

Older workers expressed the greatest desire for stability and staying in their jobs, saying that they had a lot to lose in benefits, compensation, stability, and autonomy if they had to change jobs. Several older workers said they would not be able to get a better pay and benefits package elsewhere given their current seniority. A 55-year-old pricing clerk said

Please don’t make me find something new all over again. It has crossed my mind that I could do something different, but I took a couple of college classes but never finished my two-year degree….I think a lot of people at my age are comfortable where they’re at and they don’t want to make a life change. Because you are ready for retirement, you’re secure in what you are doing. I don’t usually make change myself unless I absolutely have to change. If I lost my job, that would force me to, but right now, I get a paycheck, I’m close to work. I have security, absolutely.

And an administrative assistant, 58, told us

I can tell you right now that at my rate, I couldn't find anything better in the city just because they have been so good to me over the years. We have a lot of young people who come in and they learn but to go somewhere else. Whereas I came in and said, “We’ll just see how long this lasts.” A lot of things have happened. My house got done. My mother passed away.…[The company was] with me every step of the way. For me, I’m getting too old to move. I know this job.…Why would I move? Nothing closer to home is going to pay me what they pay me here. I don’t know what else I would do.

A fast food worker, 54, with two decades of experience said she hopes to stay in her job until she retires. Her job consists of preparing the vegetables and meat and making sandwiches. She says she enjoys it and does not want to change, even to other roles in the fast food outlet outside of the kitchen. If she had to find other work, she would return to work in the agriculture field or cleaning houses, but this work is harder on her and she prefers to stay in her current job. She said, “I like it. When you begin it is hard. But once you start cooking, you know about everything. It’s easy. I hope to be in the same job in five years.”

Given this preference for stability and the prospect for losing pay, benefits and seniority in a job transition, older workers face costly adjustments to technological change. Older workers that are displaced have higher rates of leaving the labor force altogether.¹ Greater policy attention is required to address the risks that older workers face.

Administrative and clerical workers found the stability and benefits they desire, but in the future, technology will eliminate many of these jobs

Overall, the administrative and clerical workers expressed positive views about the benefits and stability of their jobs. Some even reported loving their job. Most of the older administrative workers were especially satisfied and expressed a strong desire to remain in their positions. They also frequently noted that the work is hard and the pay is not considerable.

One assistant, 58, said, “I love this job. It’s not like I have to be an admin. I mean, I would now. But I just like doing. I think I found my place. I just feel like I’ve found my place.” A legal assistant, 65, said, "I like the work that I do. But, it's just that it's very challenging, you know? Generally, I like the firm. I like the attorneys. I like the staff here. People are willing to help each other, which is great. It's great for your brain, it fuels your thinking processes and stuff. It doesn't pay the best." And a medical secretary, 32, told us, "there's parts of my job that I don't love, but I appreciate my job a lot. I'm really happy that I have it.”

Most of the clerical and administrative workers we interviewed pointed to generous benefits and decent—but not especially high—pay as a draw of the job. For instance, a 58-year-old administrative assistant at a corporate headquarters with 23 years of tenure explained

We get medical benefits, dental, and half-day Fridays during the summer, which is an amazing benefit for us. We have a 401(k), and in February they give you a 6 percent dump of whatever you're making at that time. So, it's significant. And then they give us a bonus in September. They’ve given me the opportunity to make enough money to do what I have to do to have a better life, not just pinching pennies. So I can’t complain about the benefits, [or] anything.

The views shared by administrative and clerical workers suggest that administrative and clerical jobs are an important source of good quality, middle-paying jobs that offer the stability that many workers desire. National data on these positions reflect the positive reviews of the workers in our study. Overall, administrative and clerical jobs are higher-paid positions than frontline fast food, grocery, and retail positions and are more likely to offer stability, benefits and predictable hours. In 2018, the median salary for an administrative assistant was $38,800, compared to $23,700 for a food preparation worker.² Many administrative roles are considered a middle-skilled and middle-paying job, much like production work.

Automation and artificial intelligence are already changing the nature and number of these jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that between 2018 and 2028, administrative and clerical jobs will shrink by 4 percent, shedding hundreds of thousands of jobs held by administrative assistants and bookkeeping and accounting clerks. Longer-term estimates of the automation potential of these jobs suggest even more scope for job displacement in the decades ahead. In a 2019 report, the McKinsey Global Institute identified office support jobs as the largest source of projected displacement through 2030 of the occupational categories they examined. In their estimates, technology could replace more than a third of all hours worked by office support staff, which equals 8.1 million displaced full-time workers.³ These changes are not expected to happen abruptly, like the sudden laying off of manufacturing workers. But even a gradual decline in the number of workers across the economy who are hired into these middle-paying, good jobs represents a loss of a source of stability and opportunity for American workers.

A key question for policymakers and employers is what good jobs will be created to replace the lost jobs in administrative and clerical work, especially those that do not require an advanced degree to earn a family-sustaining wage. Additional research should be done to find out how clerical workers weathered transitions and job dislocation during the last several decades, when automation shrank the number of administrative jobs. What lessons can be learned for connecting this workforce to new opportunities and helping administrative workers keep pace with technological changes?

Many administrative workers previously worked in care and other “pink-collar” jobs that offer little stability and are projected to grow in the future

One of the surprising trends we encountered in our interviews was the striking number of administrative and clerical workers who had previously worked in “pink-collar” and care-oriented jobs. Nearly half of the administrative and clerical workers we interviewed worked previously in jobs like social work, teaching, child care, and social services. Additionally, several food, grocery, and retail workers had previous experience in education or in home healthcare before switching careers. All of these former care workers reported a high degree of satisfaction in their new administrative, food, or retail roles. (See box below, Moving Away from “Pink-Collar” Jobs to read about their experiences.)

For nearly all of these women, their earlier care-based work was a source of passion and meaning—but not stability. Often, interviewees spoke movingly about the meaning they found in their jobs and their love for working with children or vulnerable populations. But they left these jobs because the work failed to provide the schedules, compensation, benefits, safety, and balance that they desired and ultimately found in their administrative or service roles. They explained that their need for benefits like health insurance, their preference for work/life balance and family-friendly or age-friendly jobs, and their desire for less physically and emotionally demanding work became more important than emotional fulfillment.

Job quality and the future of work

These career transitions illustrate how important job quality is to workers. However, the movement from jobs that are at very low risk of automation to higher-risk jobs is the exact opposite of trends for the future. As the U.S. population ages, care-oriented jobs like home health aide and personal care aide are some of the fastest growing jobs, projected to grow by more than a million jobs by 2028. In many ways, these jobs are the future of work for many women. These jobs have few of the positive job quality attributes of the administrative jobs that are on the decline. Median pay is barely $24,000, compared to $38,800 for secretaries and administrative assistants. In addition to low pay, care jobs offer workers little scheduling control and poor working conditions. According to researchers at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, fewer than half provide benefits like health insurance and pension plans. Often, the work is physically demanding and injury-inducing, and conditions are at times unsafe for the workers.⁴

To ensure a better future for workers, and especially for women and workers of color, it is imperative that policymakers prioritize making the fast-growing jobs of the future good jobs. There are clear steps they can enact that will improve the quality of these jobs, such as raising wages, improving working conditions and safety, and enhancing opportunities for upward mobility and training. It is not enough to move workers out of these jobs. With an aging populace we will continue to need people to fulfill these care roles and we must make these jobs better. Much greater political will is needed for policymakers to prioritize the needs of a workforce that is disproportionately comprised of African American and Latina women, who are far less visible in future of work discussions and policymaking processes than white male workers.

Work is changing so the safety net and benefits system should change too

The views expressed by workers illustrate the mismatch between workers’ desire for stability and the instability caused by the changing nature of work. The current system of employer-provided benefits and the broader safety net system require a major overhaul to better meet the needs of low-wage and middle-skilled workers at risk of automation and technological change. A more responsive social safety net would include new models for workers to access key benefits outside of the workplace and that meet the needs of low-wage and older workers. Fresh thinking and new policies are needed to help older workers weather displacement and job loss and adjust to technology on the job.