How long do workers stay with the same employer?
Every year, workers leave or change their employer.
But how long do they stay before moving on? New data
from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show
that wage and salary workers had been with their current
employer for a median of 4.6 years in January 2012.
As the chart shows, employee tenure varied by
industry. In government, for example, workers had
been with the same employer for a median of 7.8 years,
compared with 2.4 years for workers in the leisure and
hospitality industry.
Employee tenure by industry depends on many factors, one of which is age. Younger workers have fewer
years of tenure than older workers, who generally have
been in the workforce longer. For example, data show
that workers aged 25 to 34 had been with their current
employer for about half as long as workers aged 45 to 50.
Government workers as a group are usually older than
leisure and hospitality workers, which helps, in part, to
explain the difference in their median tenures.
Other factors that might affect tenure by industry are
fluctuations in the numbers of new hires and separations.
These data come from a biennial supplement to the
Current Population Survey (CPS). To learn more, see
the BLS news release at www.bls.gov/news.release/
archives/tenure_09182012.htm or visit the CPS website
at www.bls.gov/cps.
Median years of tenure with current employer for employed wage and salary workers, aged 16 years and over,
by selected industry, January 2012
Median, all wage and salary workers: 4.6 years
7.8
Government
6.0
Manufacturing
5.6
Transportation and utilities
5.4
Information
4.9
Financial activities
4.4
Education and health services
4.3
Construction
3.8
Professional and business services
3.7
Wholesale and retail trade
Mining, quarrying, and oil and
gas extraction
3.5
2.4
Leisure and hospitality
2
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey
48
Occupational Outlook Quarterly • Spring 2013
4
Median years
6
8