> Lay-offs, outsourcing, offshoring, now the concept of spending your whole working life at the same company feels like a fever dream

You are missing something here imo, very few companies actually increase pay (or to be more clear, show a clear way to get there) enough to make it attractive enough to stay there for long periods of time.

From my experience here in Germany the people staying at companies for a long time are those who don't focus on their career.