Seventy percent of workers displaced from 2017 to 2019 were reemployed in January 2020

From January 2017 through December 2019, 2.7 million workers were displaced from jobs they had held for at least 3 years. This was down from 3.0 million workers for the prior survey period covering January 2015 to December 2017. In January 2020, 70 percent of long-tenured displaced workers were reemployed, up from 66 percent in January 2018. Twelve percent of displaced workers in January 2020 were unemployed (that is, actively seeking work), and 18 percent were not in the labor force.

Reemployment rates varied by age. In January 2020, the rate was 75 percent for workers ages 25 to 54. Reemployment rates continued to be lower for older workers; the rates for those ages 55 to 64 and 65 years and over were 67 percent and 44 percent, respectively. Among those age 65 and over, 49 percent were no longer in the labor force when surveyed, little changed from the prior survey.

Among those ages 25 to 54, reemployment rates were fairly similar for men and women (75 percent and 76 percent, respectively). By contrast, men ages 55 to 64 and age 65 and over were more likely to be reemployed than women of the same age groups.

In January 2020, the reemployment rate for long-tenured displaced White workers rose to 71 percent. The rates for Asians (74 percent), Hispanics (68 percent), and Blacks (62 percent) changed little from the prior survey. Long-tenured displaced Blacks were more likely than Whites and Hispanics to be unemployed in January 2020.

These data are from the Current Population Survey. For more information, see “Worker Displacement: 2017–19.” Displaced workers are wage and salary workers age 20 years or older who lost or left jobs because their plant or company closed or moved, there was insufficient work for them to do, or their position or shift was abolished. People whose ethnicity is Hispanic or Latino may be of any race.