Do you believe more employers are taking advantage of desperate employees during this bad economy?

I’m going by my own personal experience here as well as others around me who are in the same boat. I noticed when I started my career close to 20 years ago I was only required to perform one or two skills that I specialized in where I received decent pay and benefits considering the cost of living for the time period.

Where I’m getting at here is now with many factories closing down in my area I’ve noticed the requirements for many of these positions in my related field have gotten much more difficult and many of these employers are requiring potential candidates for these few open positions to be at least on a journeyman level for at least 10 different skilled fields. Not only this but the pay is laughable for what these employers require out of a potential employee. Considering inflation my pay was better 20 years ago performing a single skill or two in my field than my pay is now.

From my overall experience with several different employers in the last 10 years what I’ve noticed is that I am required to perform more skilled tasks for less pay, benefits with more responsibilty and less manpower to help me. Many other guys I know have complained about the same thing happening to them.

What I’m asking is the above mentioned scenerios just a result of the bad economy or is this the future of employment: to multitask with more responsibilities, less help, less time off and less pay (considering cost of living)?