This job is not easier than it used to be. It is way more difficult !!! The aray of skills required is a lot wider and deeper. Dure guys used to have to keep tracks from VOR to VOR and they had to follow glide paths manually. But trafic was so much lighter. Legal issues were not as critical as they are today. CRM wasn't even a concept. Aircraft systems were so much simpler and "down to earth" oriented. Things did not go that fast. Airspaces were simple. The amound of constraints did not compare to today's. Commercial aspects of the job had nothing to do with the necessity of today's requirements in terms of commercial presence (pax remember captains' announcements and general behavior, not marketing peoples' actions). Passengers, monthly flights were fewer.
Ground staff who think this job is easier simply show the depth of their ignorance. They simply have no clue as to how demanding this job is in 2010.
Let's be proud !