People born from 1957 to 1964 held an average of 12.9 jobs from ages 18 to 58

People born between 1957 and 1964 held an average of 12.9 jobs from ages 18 to 58. Over 40 percent of these jobs (an average of 5.6) were held from ages 18 to 24. The average fell to 4.5 jobs from ages 25 to 34; to 2.9 jobs from ages 35 to 44; to 2.2 jobs from ages 45 to 54; and to 1.3 jobs from ages 55 to 58.

On average, men held 13.1 jobs and women held 12.7 jobs from ages 18 to 58. Men held 5.8 jobs from ages 18 to 24, compared with 2.1 jobs from ages 45 to 54. The reduction in the average number of jobs held in successive age groups was similar for women.

A job is defined here as an uninterrupted period of work with a particular employer. Jobs that span more than one age group were counted once in each age group, so the overall average number of jobs held from ages 18 to 58 is less than the sum of the number of jobs across the individual age groups.

These data are from the National Longitudinal Surveys. To learn more, see “Number of Jobs, Labor Market Experience, Marital Status, and Health for those Born 1957–1964.” The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 consists of men and women who were born in the years 1957–64 and were ages 14 to 22 when first interviewed in 1979. These individuals were ages 57 to 66 when interviewed most recently in 2022–23.