The opposite often holds true during a recession: businesses experience reduced demand and look to downsize their workforces in the short term.
Governments attempt to do this by passing laws (such as the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964) which make it illegal to fire employees for certain reasons.
Individuals can influence their degree of job security by increasing their skills through education and experience, or by moving to a more favorable location.
[citation needed] Minimal government intervention has helped the United States create an at-will employment system that applies across many industries.
For example, in the aftermath of the dot com boom of 1997–2000, employees in the technology industry experienced a massive drop in job security and confidence.
Employees worried about the potential career consequences of losing productivity and effectiveness while working from home owing to a lack of work-life balance.
[13] Overseas outsourcing (sometimes called offshoring) may decrease job security for people in certain occupations such as telemarketers, computer programmers, medical transcriptionists, and bookkeeping clerks.
[14] In India job security is high as Indian labour law make firing difficult for permanent employees.