The job market today has evolved in great leaps and bounds. The challenges that were common in the job market years ago have been replaced by a different set of issues. People of all ages are now competing for all the vacancies available in the job market. This is because the population has grown faster than the growth of the economy. As a result, jobs have become scarce and it is harder to get engaged in the job that one desires. Additionally, governments around the world have been encouraging their citizens to get an education that will support the development of their nation. They have also created the enabling environment to facilitate greater penetration of education. Therefore, most people have an academic background that can now support the career they desire.
50 years ago, the human population was relatively smaller than it is now. The economy was slowly growing because of the industrialization of different nations. As the nations transitioned at different rates, most were able to engage their citizens in gainful employment. This allowed for every citizen to be able to make a decent living. There were also a limited number of people who had gone through formal education. This allowed for the educated section of the population to take up formal employment opportunities. Those who had no formal education continued learning and applying skills such as farming and other entry-level posts that supported the industrial age. There was not much of an employment gap because most people could have their skills absorbed into the job market (el-Baba, 2015).
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Job hunting in the past was much simpler than it is today. The mediums that were available to use were limited to print media. The people often got to know of job offerings through public gatherings and pinned notices on the walls. The people would generally apply for these jobs by physically writing to the relevant authorities and then deliver the letters. A date for interviews would be communicated almost immediately because there was a limited number of applicants. For informal jobs such as industrial workers, the potential employees would be vetted immediately. This included a simple procedure of simply first showing up at the premises. This was followed up by a physical examination that classified different people according to their perceived physical condition. The successful candidates were then engaged in the terms that the organization saw fit (Hall, 2005).
At the time, there were no clearly defined legislative mandates to govern employment. Additionally, the workforce was limited to men. Very few women took up positions of employment. The women mostly engaged in roles that were specifically designated for women. They included jobs such as nurses, secretaries and teachers. Roles such as those of doctors and administrative staff were reserved for men. Women were discouraged from applying for such jobs as they could not get them. This also saw most women depending on men for their income. The home was a place of pressure for men who were required to earn enough to cater to the needs of the entire family. It was therefore vital for a man to look for a job with good pay and supplement his income with additional wages if the pay was insufficient. Holding more than one job was uncommon because most jobs provided enough to cater for all the needs.
Fast forward 50 years later and things have changed. The industrialization of different nations saw a push for equality among genders. As a result, more women began to enter the workforce. As the gender equality movement grew, women began to occupy more complex roles in the job market. As the job market became more efficient competitive, it became necessary to set rules of engagement. For example, many employers were not willing to take up women into their employment. Those who did were only willing to give them manual or entry-level jobs. Today, there are laws in place that restrict an employer from discriminating against women or people with disabilities. Women now have a better chance in the job market than they did 50 years ago (Sato et al., 2015).
Other legal changes that have changed the job search market include labour laws. A majority of nations around the world have adopted labour laws that restrict the performance of employers. For instance, while any sort of facility was permitted in the past, now the law mandates the type of working conditions. These include the provision of safe and clean working environment. Basic amenities such as washrooms and access to clean drinking water are other additional conditions. Labour laws also define factors such as the suitable number of working hours and the minimum wage or amount that can be paid for services.
Technological advances have increased the number and variety of the jobs available as well. Some of the jobs available now were not heard of them. The computer age has created most of these new jobs. Jobs such as computer programming were reserved for a few. This is a big field now and it has given birth to computer dependent jobs such as gaming, software development, app development, networking among others. Some of these jobs allow a person to work from home or from any place that has an internet connection. The existing job market also expanded to allow for specialist jobs. They include jobs such as nutritionists, orthopedic surgeons and genetic counselors in hospitals. The increased complexity of job description has necessitated additional education. Specific job skills are now necessary before beginning a job search today (Reddy, 2018).
It is also much easier to find and apply for a job now. This is because the Internet allows for multiple job opportunities to be availed easily. Technologies such as Skype allow for teleconferencing which facilitates interviews from distant places. This has greatly reduced the ease, convenience and speed of a job search. Additionally, the numbers of opportunities that are currently available have increased because of the creation of online activities. People now work online on occupations such as content writing, SEO optimization, transcription, blogging, virtual assistance among others. Job hunting today may be easier and more structured but it has its limitations. For example, competition for jobs is more intensive and it is harder to get one. (Smith, 2015). However, it is easier for a person to venture into entrepreneurship today than it is then. Population growth, technological and educational advances as well as cultural changes are responsible for the changes in the nature of job hunting.
In Nutshell, The nature of job hunting has evolved over the years. job hunting today is more complex than it was 50 years ago. This is basing on the fact that human population has grown over the years. The population today is much higher than it was 50 years ago. Furthermore, the percentage of the elites, both male and female has also gone higher. Moreover, People of all genders and ages continue to compete for the existing vacancies in the job market. However, from the above discussion, it is true to state that it is easier to create opportunities for you now than it was then.
References
el-Baba, B. (2015) Job market not like that of 50 years ago’: today’s youth face new challenge. BSL. Retrieved from https://www.bsl.org.au/media/brotherhood-blog/job-market-not-like-that-of-50-years-ago-todays-youth-face-new-challenges/
Hall, R. E. (2005). Job loss, job finding, and unemployment in the US economy over the past fifty years. NBER macroeconomics annual , 20 , 101-137.
Reddy, C. (2018) Jobs (High-Paying) that Didn’t Exist 10, 15, 30 or 50 Years Ago. Wisestep. Retrieved from https://content.wisestep.com/jobs-didnt-exist-10-15-30-50-years-ago/
Sato, A. H., Shimizu, C., Mizuno, T., Ohnishi, T., " Watanabe, T. (2015). Relationship between job opportunities and economic environments measured from data in internet job searching sites. Procedia Computer Science , 60 , 1255-1262.
Smith, A. (2015). Searching for work in the digital era. Pew Research Center , 19 .
