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For release 10:00 a.m. (ET) Tuesday, September 22, 2020 USDL-20-1791 Technical information: cpsinfo@bls.gov * www.bls.gov/cps Media contact: (202) 691-5902 * PressOffice@bls.gov EMPLOYEE TENURE IN 2020 The median number of years that wage and salary workers had been with their current employer was 4.1 years in January 2020, little changed from 4.2 years in January 2018, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The U.S. Department of Labor's Chief Evaluation Office sponsored the January 2020 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 2020, median employee tenure (the point at which half of all workers had more tenure and half had less tenure) for men was 4.3 years, unchanged from the median in January 2018. For women, median tenure was 3.9 years in January 2020, little different from the median of 4.0 years in January 2018. Among men, 29 percent of wage and salary workers had 10 years or more of tenure with their current employer in January 2020, higher than the figure of 27 percent for women. (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 (9.9 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, 54 percent had been employed for at least 10 years with their current employer in January 2020, compared with 10 percent of those ages 30 to 34. (See tables 1 and 2.) Among the major race and ethnicity groups, 29 percent of Whites had been with their current employer for 10 years or more in January 2020, compared with 22 percent of Hispanics, 23 percent of Blacks, and 26 percent of Asians. (See table 3.) The longer tenure among Whites can be explained, in part, by the fact that they tend to be older. Twenty- three percent of White wage and salary workers were age 55 and over; by comparison, the proportions for Blacks (19 percent), Asians (19 percent), and Hispanics (15 percent) were smaller. In January 2020, the share of wage and salary workers with a year or less of tenure with their current employer was 22 percent, unchanged from the proportion in January 2018. 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 2020, 75 percent of 16- to 19-year- olds had tenure of 12 months or less with their current employer, compared with 10 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 2020 than those with more education. The median tenure for men and women with less than a high school diploma was 4.8 years and 4.1 years, respectively. College graduates had median tenure of 5.2 years and 4.9 years, respectively. (See table 4.) Industry In January 2020, wage and salary workers in the public sector had a median tenure of 6.5 years, nearly twice 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 employees had a higher median tenure (8.2 years) than state (5.6 years) or local government (6.6 years) employees. (See table 5.) Within the private sector, workers in manufacturing had the highest tenure among major industries at 5.1 years in January 2020. In contrast, workers in leisure and hospitality had the lowest median tenure (2.3 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 (4.9 years) in January 2020. Within this group, employees with jobs in management occupations (5.8 years), legal occupations (5.8 years), architecture and engineering occupations (5.1 years), and educational, training, and library occupations (5.0 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 (2.9 years). Among employees working in service occupations, food service workers had the lowest median tenure at 1.9 years. (See table 6.)