>> If you know you’ll be commuting to The Factory for the next forty years
That was not the norm historically. Average job tenure is longer now that it was in the past. And the typical manufacturing facility lasted nowhere near forty years. The average lifespan of a factory is around 10 years. Most companies aren't around for forty years.
>> The norm for most people used to be to work for the same company most of their career (if not all of it) and retire from there with a pension
Stats on that?
That absolutely was not the norm. Again, most companies did not exist long enough for someone to work at one for their entire career. Median job tenure 40 years ago was around 4 years (BLS).
A minority of private workers were covered by pensions at the highest point, and being covered by a pension plan did not mean you got a pension. A company might have required 30 years of service to get a pension. Work there 29 years and 11 months, get fired, no pension. Work somewhere ten years and then decide you hate it? Either work there another 20 years hating it or quit and lose your pension. Job hop for a raise every few years? No pension. Many pensions were not adjusted for inflation. Many pension plans went bankrupt. Pensions sucked. I know, I have one from the 90's. Worked there 7 years, that pension is going to pay me roughly the same monthly amount as I will be able to take from my last year's contributions to my 401K, even if those contributions make no investment returns before I retire.
I have no idea how young people get these fantasy ideas about the past. And do you really want to work in the same place for 40 years? A 401K is better than a pension. A 401K, Roth IRA and HSA is immensely better than a pension.
> Work somewhere ten years and then decide you hate it? Either work there another 20 years or quit and lose your pension.
That's not usually how it worked.
> I have a pension from the 1990's. Worked there 7 years. I'll get around $150 a month when I retire
As you yourself note. You didn't lose your pension by leaving after 7 years, you still get it. Sure it's minimal because you only worked there 7 years instead of 40 but you didn't lose it.
> I have no idea how young people get these fantasy ideas about the past.
I wish I was that young but I also will eventually receive a pension from a company where I worked for a few years in the early 90s. It'll be like $100 but I only worked there a few years.
Different plans had different limits. Mine was 7 years, I stayed just long enough to get it. If I had left a few months earlier, would have lost it. Pensions suck.
That was not the norm historically. Average job tenure is longer now that it was in the past. And the typical manufacturing facility lasted nowhere near forty years. The average lifespan of a factory is around 10 years. Most companies aren't around for forty years.