Americans Hanging Onto Their Jobs Longer
December 24, 2012 by Sam Rolley
Many Americans who would likely prefer to abandon their jobs in search of something better are increasingly grateful to simply be employed and are hanging onto their jobs longer due to a shaky economic outlook.
Census Bureau data indicates that average job tenure was the highest in 2012 that it has been since the early 1980s, according to Bloomberg.
In 2000, when hiring was strong, the average amount of time Americans older than 25 spent working a job was 4.7 years. Today, most Americans in the same demographic can be expected to hang on to a job for 5.4 years on average.
From the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employee Tenure Summary: “Median employee tenure varied by age. Older workers tend to have more years of tenure than their younger counterparts. For example, the median tenure for employees age 65 and over was 10.3 years in January 2012, over three times the tenure for workers age 25 to 34 (3.2 years). More than half of all workers age 55 and over were employed for at least 10 years with their current employer in January 2012, compared with 13 percent of workers age 30 to 34.”
BLS also notes that lifelong positions with a single employer are becoming an increasingly uncommon among American workers. This poses important questions about whether those just entering the workforce will have ample opportunity to plan for retirement.
You can opt-out at any time. We protect your information like a mother hen. We will not sell or rent your email address to anyone for any reason.
