• U.S. Workers Have Been with Same Employer for Average of 4.6 Years

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The median number of years that wage and salary workers had been with their current employer was 4.6 in January 2012, up from 4.4 years in January 2010. By Gender: In January 2012, median employee tenure (the point at which half of all workers had more tenure and half had less tenure) for men was 4.7 years, little changed from 2 years ago. For women, median tenure iwas 4.6 years, up from 4.2 years in January 2010. 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). By Race and Ethnicity: Among the major race and ethnicity groups, 20 percent of Hispanics had been with their current employer for 10 years or more in January 2012, compared with 31 percent of whites, 26 percent of blacks, and 23 percent of Asians. The shorter tenure among Hispanics can be explained, in part, by their relative youth. Almost half of Hispanic workers age 16 and over were age 16 to 34, compared with just over a third of whites, blacks, and Asians. By Industry: Wage and salary workers in the public sector had almost double the median tenure of private sector employees, 7.8 versus 4.2 years. Within the private sector, workers in manufacturing had the highest median tenure among the major industries (6.0 years). In contrast, workers in leisure and hospitality had the lowest median tenure (2.4 years). By Occupation: Workers in management, professional, and related occupations had the highest median tenure (5.5 years) among the major occupational groups. Workers in service occupations, who are generally younger than persons employed in management, professional, and related occupations, had the lowest median tenure (3.2 years). Among employees working in service jobs, food service workers had the shortest median tenure, at 2.3 years. Source: USDOL-BLS

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