At a time when much of the nation's focus is on the unemployed and how to help them get jobs, it is the people still bringing home paychecks who may be in trouble as they begin to crumble under the current workplace stress.

"A lot of people just don't have anything to look forward to anymore," says Wayne Hochwarter, a Florida State University professor. "They can't even look forward to retirement because they're going to have to work longer now. Most people haven't gotten a raise in years. They're doing the work of five people now, and they just think: 'I can't do this anymore.' "

That's a story that Heather Blume is hearing in her job as a Seattle-based recruiter specializing in property management for Career Strategies Inc.

"In the last month or so, I've had three or four people a week tell me — on the down-low — that they've got to get out of their jobs. It used to be I heard this maybe once a month. Now people are asking me if I've got anything for them — they say they'll take anything to get away from the stress of what they're doing now."

David Benjamin, a recruiting manager for The Sales Matrix in Detroit, says that while he hears the despair and frustration in the voices of salesmen who are out of work, he also notes that those who are still employed "just don't see a light at the end of the tunnel."

"Salesmen hear 'no' in this economy a lot more," Benjamin says. "It just wears on you and beats you down. It 's such a grind, such a challenge."

In a study by Hochwarter, he found that 55 percent of bosses have become more demanding of workers and more than 70 percent of employees say the recession has increased stress levels at work.

Blume says that many of those who come to her for help say they feel "trapped" because they know if a boss finds out they're looking for work, they'll be fired. Blume says with a glut of job candidates, employees know it won't be tough for a manager to fill their position.

"Employers don't have to care about employee retention," Blume says. "They just have the attitude of bring 'em in, burn 'em out and find another."

Hochwarter found in his study that employees have grown increasingly concerned about their job stability: 65 percent said they expected significant job changes in the next year while 80 percent of workers say they're nervous about their long-term financial well-being.

At the same time, Hochwarter says this shift in the workplace culture and the increased stress and financial anxiety may bring some permanent changes to the workplace.

"The world of business has truly been spun around. There is no Plan B for many people, which is why they feel hopeless and helpless," he says. "Hopefully, the chilling realization that an employer has no interest in taking care of the employee will prompt people to do it for themselves."