I can see what you are saying. I guess I am an exception and it probably also depends on the career field or industry. I have had two employers, other than odd short term jobs in highschool. The Navy was my first employer (24 years) and my current company (a major aerospace company and defense contractor) was the second (now at 20 years). I will likely retire or move to part time in the next two years. I do see many younger people cross to other competitors for bumps in pay, but there is a down side to that as well. At my company, if we see a candidate who has a resume with several companies over a few years, it’s frowned upon as we don’t want to spend time and money to train people and watch them walk out the door with those skills.
I was only laid off twice. But I have still worked for five different companies.
Even if you keep the same job there is no guarantee that you will be working for the same company. I once worked for three different companies and never once had to move my name plate in one job and two different companies in another job. When I started working full time in the late 80s I knew that likely I would work for several companies before I retired and that the best thing to plan for was to have a portable skill set and something that would allow me to work for myself some day.
Which was a plan I followed with any number of ups and downs but it is mostly successful. We have taught our children the same thing. If you get a nice job where you work for one company your entire life that is a major black swan so do not count on it.
I just find it very hard to believe that this man had this kind of mindset in the mid nineties.