Personally I think there is a power imbalance.

Most people at the bottom seem to think that the playing field is level and that people get picked for things via merit. But I feel that it is more a big club. People get picked for jobs by who they know, what the people they know can do for the company / organization... etc. I do think that good jobs now are rewards that are handed out for something else. It is only the little people who don't know it. Little people are allowed to stay and work as long as they don't make trouble. The University you went to is, imho, just a sign of how likely you are to have riches or know people who can benefit the organization. Remember the college scandal that came out recently. You never would have believed such a thing was going on. But it is and I suspect it is happening in the workplace. Good workplaces go to schools like Harvard and hire a bunch of no nothing kids and pay them tons of money. In the hopes that one of them will be the son or daughter of a senator. But when they figure out your NOT powerful, they will find a reason to fire you.

All of this points to a very scary idea but one I think employers have already figured out... that even if 50% of their employees do a poor job, the business will still thrive. So why not use the "jobs" as ways to achieve other things. Need an inspector's approval a lot? Make sure he nephew works for you etc. Need a Judge's favorable opinion...hire their former law clerks. But what about the 200 or so regular people out there who need work? Well, the employers will hire them for a bit but eventually when they want someone else working for them they will come up with a reason to get rid of them... and there are so many.

I think the only think real people can do is
(1) start their own business.
(2) work for the government.
(3) start rumors that they are connected.
(4) keep their heads down and work for as long as possible and keep expenses as low as possible.