Employee Tenure News Release

For release 10:00 a.m. (ET) Thursday, September 22, 2022  	      USDL-22-1894

Technical information:  (202) 691-6378  *  cpsinfo@bls.gov  *  www.bls.gov/cps 
Media contact:          (202) 691-5902  *  PressOffice@bls.gov


			      EMPLOYEE TENURE IN 2022        			


The median number of years that wage and salary workers had been with their
current employer was 4.1 years in January 2022, unchanged from the median in
January 2020, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Chief Evaluation Office sponsored the January
2022 survey to collect information on employee tenure. Since 1996, these
surveys have been conducted biennially in January as a supplement to the
Current Population Survey (CPS). The CPS is a monthly sample survey of about
60,000 households that provides information on the labor force status of the
civilian noninstitutional population age 16 and over. The questions about 
employee tenure measure how long workers had been with their current employer
at the time of the survey. A number of factors can affect median tenure of
workers, including changes in the age profile among workers, as well as changes
in the number of hires and separations. For further information about the 
CPS, see the Technical Note in this news release.

Demographic Characteristics

In January 2022, median employee tenure (the point at which half of all workers
had more tenure and half had less tenure) for men held at 4.3 years. For women,
median tenure was 3.8 years in January 2022, little changed from the median of
3.9 years in January 2020. Among men, 28 percent of wage and salary workers had
10 years or more of tenure with their current employer in January 2022, higher
than the figure for women (26 percent). (See tables 1 and 3.)

Median employee tenure was generally higher among older workers than younger 
ones. For example, the median tenure of workers ages 55 to 64 (9.8 years) was
more than three times that of workers ages 25 to 34 years (2.8 years). Also,
a larger proportion of older workers than younger workers had 10 years or more
of tenure. For example, among workers ages 60 to 64, 53 percent had been employed
for at least 10 years with their current employer in January 2022, compared 
with 9 percent of those ages 30 to 34. (See tables 1 and 2.)

Among the major race and ethnicity groups, 28 percent of Whites had been with
their current employer for 10 years or more in January 2022, compared with 24 
percent of Blacks, 22 percent of Asians, and 21 percent of Hispanics. (See 
table 3.) The higher share of long-tenured workers among Whites may be due, in
part, because they tend to be older. Among White wage and salary workers, 23
percent were age 55 and over. By comparison, the proportions for Blacks (20 
percent), Asians (17 percent), and Hispanics (15 percent) were smaller.

In January 2022, the share of wage and salary workers with a year or less of
tenure with their current employer was 24 percent, higher than the proportion
in January 2020 (22 percent). This short-tenured group includes new hires, job
losers who found new jobs during the previous year, and workers who had 
voluntarily changed employers during the year. Younger workers were more likely
than older workers to be short-tenured employees. For example, in January 2022,
about 79 percent of 16- to 19-year-olds had tenure of 12 months or less with
their current employer, compared with about 12 percent of workers ages 55 to
64. (See table 3.)

Among workers age 25 and over, men and women with less than a high school diploma
had lower median tenure in January 2022 than those with more education. The
median tenure for men and women with less than a high school diploma was 4.5 
years and 4.3 years, respectively. Male and female college graduates had median
tenure of 5.1 years and 4.9 years, respectively. (See table 4.)

Industry

In January 2022, wage and salary workers in the public sector had a median tenure
of 6.8 years, higher than the median of 3.7 years for private-sector employees.
One factor behind this difference is age. About 3 in 4 government workers were
age 35 and over, compared with about 3 in 5 private wage and salary workers.
Federal government employees had a higher median tenure (7.5 years) than state
(6.3 years) or local government (6.9 years) employees. (See table 5.)

Among the major private industries, workers in manufacturing had the highest
tenure, at 5.2 years in January 2022. By contrast, workers in leisure and 
hospitality had the lowest median tenure (2.0 years). These differences in tenure
reflect many factors, one of which is varying age distributions across the 
industries; workers in manufacturing tend to be older than those in leisure
and hospitality.

Occupation

Among the major occupations, workers in management, professional, and related
occupations had the highest median tenure (5.0 years) in January 2022. Within 
this group, employees with jobs in management occupations (6.2 years), 
educational, training, and library occupations (5.5 years), architecture and 
engineering occupations (5.2 years), and legal occupations (4.7 years) had the
longest tenure. Workers in service occupations, who are generally younger than
persons employed in management, professional, and related occupations, had the
lowest median tenure (2.8 years). Among employees working in service 
occupations, food service workers had the lowest median tenure, at 1.6 years.
(See table 6.)

Technical Note

The data in this release were collected through a supplement to the January 2022
Current Population Survey (CPS). The CPS, which is conducted by the U.S. Census
Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), is a monthly survey of about 60,000
eligible households that provides information on the labor force status, 
demographics, and other characteristics of the nation's civilian noninstitutional
population age 16 and over.

The January 2022 CPS supplement, which was sponsored by the U.S. Department of 
Labor, obtained information on worker displacement and workers' tenure with their
current employer. The data on worker displacement are online at 
www.bls.gov/cps/lfcharacteristics.htm#displaced. 

Updated population controls for the CPS are introduced annually with the release of
the January data. Additional information about population controls is available on
the BLS website at www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm#pop. 

If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 
to access telecommunications relay services.

Reliability of the estimates

Statistics based on the CPS are subject to both sampling and nonsampling error. 
When a sample, rather than the entire population, is surveyed, there is a chance 
that the sample estimates may differ from the true population values they represent.
The component of this difference that occurs because samples differ by chance is 
known as sampling error, and its variability is measured by the standard error of 
the estimate. There is about a 90-percent chance, or level of confidence, that an
estimate based on a sample will differ by no more than 1.6 standard errors from 
the true population value because of sampling error. BLS analyses are generally 
conducted at the 90-percent level of confidence.

The CPS data also are affected by nonsampling error.  Nonsampling error can occur 
for many reasons, including the failure to sample a segment of the population, 
inability to obtain information for all respondents in the sample, inability or 
unwillingness of respondents to provide correct information, and errors made in the
collection or processing of the data. 

Information about the reliability of data from the CPS and guidance on estimating
standard errors is available at www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm#reliability. 

Concepts and questions

Employee tenure is a measure of how long wage and salary workers had been with 
their current employer at the time of the survey. Many of the estimates shown in 
this report are medians; the median is the point at which half of all workers had 
more tenure and half had less tenure. Data refer to the sole or principal job of 
full- and part-time workers.

Wage and salary workers receive wages, salaries, commissions, tips, payment in kind,
or piece rates. The group includes employees in both the private and public sectors
but excludes all self-employed persons, both those with incorporated businesses as
well as those with unincorporated businesses.

In the CPS supplement, questions on tenure were asked of all employed persons. The
main question was: "How long has ... been working continuously for (fill in name of
present employer)?"

               _____ Days
               _____ Weeks
               _____ Months
               _____ Years

For responses of "1 year" or "2 years," a follow-up question was asked: "Could you
please give the exact number of months?"

The purpose of the follow-up question is to obtain more precise information on 
workers who had been with their current employer for a relatively short time. This 
follow-up question was included for the first time in the February 1996 CPS 
supplement on worker displacement and tenure. CPS supplements that obtained 
information on tenure in January of 1983, 1987, and 1991 did not include the 
follow-up question. In those surveys, responses of 1 year or more could be coded only
as the nearest full year, and responses of less than a year were coded as the nearest
full month. Currently, the 2-year category includes 24 to 29 months, and the 3-year
category includes 2.5 to 3.5 years.

Prior to January 1983, CPS supplements on tenure asked wage and salary workers, 
"When did ... start working at (his/her) present job?" For wage and salary workers,
the meaning of the term "job" is ambiguous. For example, a worker who had been 
employed at a particular company for 10 years and had been promoted to a managerial 
position 1 year prior to the survey may have been counted as having 10 years or 1 year
of tenure, depending on whether the respondent interpreted the question to mean tenure
with the current employer or tenure in the managerial position. To rectify this 
ambiguity, the wording of the question was changed in January 1983 to specify the 
length of time a worker had been with his or her current employer. The change resulted
in a break in historical comparability.

Interpreting tenure data

Data on tenure have been used as a gauge of employment security, with some observers 
regarding increases in tenure as a sign of improving security and decreasing tenure as
a sign of deteriorating security. However, there are limitations to using the data in
this way. For example, during recessions or other periods of declining job security,
median tenure and the proportion of workers with long tenure could rise if less-senior 
workers are more likely to lose their jobs than are workers with longer tenure.

During periods of economic growth, median tenure and the proportion of workers with
long tenure could fall if more job opportunities are available for new entrants to 
the workforce and experienced workers have more opportunities to change employers and 
take better jobs. Tenure also could rise under improving economic conditions, however,
as fewer layoffs occur and good job matches develop between workers and employers.

A changing age distribution among workers would also affect median tenure. Since older
workers are more likely to have long tenure with their current employer than younger 
workers, aging baby boomers in the workforce would provide upward pressure on overall 
median tenure.