A college degree was seen as the pathway to a financially secure career, while America's unions and union-negotiated wages made financial security possible for millions of Americans without college degrees.
But Paul had a secure career path stretching ahead of him, something his son does not.
The same Ngram viewer shows that the phrase "a secure career" has gone out of style, just as the phrase "a fulfilling career" has gotten hot.
He said his father, whom he once described as an impecunious civil servant, urged him to pursue a more secure career.
I know how lucky I was to have support from David when I stepped away from a secure career to do something completely new.
"If it is a career, it's the least secure career you could possibly find," Gregg Brockway, a serial entrepreneur in his forties, told me.
The seeds of a more secure career were found as he toured the pubs of the East End as a singer and comic.
Unfortunately, most teachers have never been entrepreneurs; others are failed entrepreneurs who went to teaching as a more secure career; and some don't even know a business owner — not the ideal people to convey such a mind-set".
Helen Dickinson, director general of the British Retail Consortium, said: "40% of all jobs for those under 20 are in retail, and this will help retailers provide secure career opportunities for young people".
"People all talk about what they have to do," he laments, "but they don't really want to do it".Now the promise of a long, secure career rings hollow, recruiters must offer a new bargain: that young managers will acquire the skills they need to be valuable to other companies.
