Old as time? Roughly, though the intensity of the insecurity has varied greatly with period / location / social circumstances.
Opinions may vary on the IT workers' free meal benefits. My impression is that the richest firms added breakfast, and dinner, and laundry service - and were sometimes accused of hoping that employees would live in the office and work 20 hours a day.
FWIW, Wiktionary expresses doubt on that origin for "salary" - https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/salary Vague memory: It's a topic that an ancient historian could lecture on for a few hours...and still conclude "doubtful".
