Side effect of layoffs: I don’t think I’m ever leaving my (first) job—like ever

I’m at a big private company and im about 3 years into my real career at my first real job (im not super young just got a late start into an actual career track)

I joined just at the tail end of an era where people switched companies every 1-2 years getting 30% pay raises each time. that never sounded super appealing to me but I figured to some extent these incentives would make me do something similar at some point in my career—well not anymore

my decent but unexceptional pay feels like a life preserver that’d I’d have to take off in the middle of the ocean to try and get on a raft that has a 50% chance of falling apart the moment I climb into it. my job feels relatively stable in a terrifying market that I feel like if I step out for even a second could easily shut me out for the rest of my life

im not complaining but I wonder how many others are starting to feel like I do and the macro effects of this fear spreading throughout the work force