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Median tenure with current employer was 3.9 years in January 2024
October 11, 2024
The median number of years that wage and salary workers had been with their current employer was 3.9 years in January 2024, down from 4.1 years in January 2022 and the lowest since January 2002. For men, median employee tenure was 4.2 years, a decrease from 4.3 years in January 2022. For women, median tenure was 3.6 years, down from the median of 3.8 years in January 2022. (Note that data are not available for every year.)
Median years of tenure with current employer for wage and salary workers, 1983–2024
Year
Both sexes
Men
Women
1983
3.5
4.1
3.1
1987
3.4
4.0
3.0
1991
3.6
4.1
3.2
1996
3.8
4.0
3.5
1998
3.6
3.8
3.4
2000
3.5
3.8
3.3
2002
3.7
3.9
3.4
2004
4.0
4.1
3.8
2006
4.0
4.1
3.9
2008
4.1
4.2
3.9
2010
4.4
4.6
4.2
2012
4.6
4.7
4.6
2014
4.6
4.7
4.5
2016
4.2
4.3
4.0
2018
4.2
4.3
4.0
2020
4.1
4.3
3.9
2022
4.1
4.3
3.8
2024
3.9
4.2
3.6
Median employee tenure was generally higher among older workers than younger ones. For example, the median tenure of workers ages 55 to 64 (9.6 years) in January 2024 was more than three times that of workers ages 25 to 34 (2.7 years).
The share of wage and salary workers with a year or less of tenure with their current employer was 22 percent in January 2024. 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.
Percent distribution of employed wage and salary workers by tenure with their current employer, by age, January 2024
Age
12 months
13 to 23 months
2 years
3 to 4 years
5 to 9 years
10 to 14 years
15 to 19 years
20 years or more
Total
22.2
7.3
6.6
17.7
20.0
9.7
6.4
10.1
16 to 19 years
70.3
11.9
9.7
7.6
0.1
0.0
0.0
0.0
20 to 24 years
48.3
13.3
12.0
20.8
5.5
0.2
0.0
0.0
25 to 34 years
28.1
9.6
9.4
24.6
22.5
5.4
0.4
0.0
35 to 44 years
17.5
6.9
6.0
18.8
25.6
13.3
8.5
3.5
45 to 54 years
12.6
4.9
4.1
14.6
22.0
13.8
10.8
17.2
55 to 64 years
9.6
4.4
3.2
12.7
19.5
12.6
10.5
27.5
65 years and over
10.5
3.1
4.2
12.1
18.4
13.4
11.2
27.1
Younger workers were more likely than older workers to be short-tenured employees. For example, in January 2024, 70 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.
These data are from the Current Population Survey. To learn more, see “Employee Tenure in 2024.” Median tenure is the point at which half of all workers had more tenure and half had less tenure.
United States Department of Labor
