When the economy does well and businesses do well, most people in general do better. As more businesses demand workers, competition for workers increases, so wages and perks go up. New sorts of jobs are created to assist the newly rich. For example, do you work as a personal trainer, high-class hair dresses, personal shopper, wealth manager, waitress/manager at an upscale restaurant, or even exotic dancer? Chances are, your clientele, or at the very least your best clientele, tend to be wealthy individuals. When there are more wealthy individuals, there are more demands for these sorts of jobs that service the upper class.

While recessions hurt all economic groups, the current one has, more than anything, been associated with a huge drop in the stock prices and other assets. Who owns the vast majority of stocks? Rich people, duh. In the recent election, politicans harped about how to help the middle class the most. This is because, after all, most voters are middle class. No politican was going to sing a sad song for the rich people; Obama often targeted rich people as being ‘greedy’ and needing to have their ‘wealth spread around.’

Most people think they’re immune to the plight of the stock market and rich people in general. If anything, it brings them joy to see Richie taken down. Guess what? When Richie goes down, you go down too. Here are the sort of middle class jobs that will be affected the most by the stock market crash and the decline in rich people in general:

1. Do you work in a service business that in any way caters to rich people? I mentioned a list before, such as personal trainers, people who work at high-end restaurants and shops, and financial institutions. Step back and think for a second. Who gives you money? Does it come from a rich person? Guess what, rich person has less money, they have less to pay you. If you work at a Gucci store and don’t think the stock market crash affects you, you’re living in a dreamland.

2. Do you work in a business that services a business dependent on rich folk? For example, if people are eating less steak, not only are the steakhouse chains going to be hurt, but beef producers in general are hurt. Are you a lawyer? Less rich people, less legal wrangling/business in general. Good chance it will find its way to affect you.

3. Do you work for a small business? By small business, I mean an LLC of any sort. With Obama and the democrats pledging tax increases, good chance this will affect your boss. Your boss may decide its time to cut back even more, and this means your job may be gone soon. Furthermore, with credit being difficult to get and fewer rich people out there to make loans, your company may have a harder time staying afloat.

If you’re a government employee or work for a toothpaste manufacturer, chances are your job is safe. But don’t expect any pay raises soon. With all of the unemployed out there from these other industries, they are looking at your job with envy. Try haggling for a raise and you may soon find yourself replaced.

The perfect example of how trickle down affects the workers is what is happening with the automakers. While the UAW thought it scored a huge victory for its workers originally by getting their retirees health benefits and huge severance packages, this ultimately made the American car manufacturers uncompetitive. Since GM, Ford, and Chrysler can’t turn a profit, they are now facing bankruptcy. If these car makers go bankrupt, not only will the auto workers not have those nice health care perks and pensions, they won’t have a job at all!