It was always amazing how that troublesome 2% fought to hang onto the jobs they spoke of hating, digging in their nails and refusing to look for something else, even within the company.
I have seen this one too. And the only conclusion that I can come to is the following. "Men (and women) of ability never fear loosing their jobs..." They always know they are marketable, can find work elsewhere, have contacts, etc. In general, those that are terrified of loosing their jobs have lesser, or no real skills, in comparision to their co-workers. These are people that reguard their jobs as just one elaborate con-job. As in "how long can I hang out here..... get paid, while not really doing, or knowing anything useful?"
At the same time, most of these people subsonciously really DO envy people that they know are their betters. They in fact do not want to succeed, or even to be happy. They would much rather everyone else fail like them, and be miserable with them. Why Because only that will help them bear the pain of the bad decisions they have made in life. By their twisted reasoning, "if everyone is just as miserable as me, then my mistakes are not so bad in comparision...." It is an interesting mindset to watch....