Survey: US Labor Department Employee Tenure Data Shows Job Tenure Lengthens with Age

The median number of years that wage and salary workers had been with their current employer was 4.0 years in January 2006, unchanged from January 2004, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. Not surprisingly, older workers tend to have more years of tenure than their younger counterparts: median tenure for employees ages 55 to 64 was 9.3 years in January 2006, about three times the tenure for workers ages 25 to 34 (2.9 years).

Information on employee tenure has been obtained from supplemental questions in the Current Population Survey (CPS). every 2 years since 1996In data As would also be expected, a larger percentage of older workers than younger workers had 10 or more years of tenure. For example, among wage and salary workers ages 55 to 59, about half were employed for 10 years or more with their current employer, while among workers ages 30 to 34, about 11% have 10 or more years of tenure, and for workers ages 25 to 29, the proportion was about 2%.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics News Release 06-1563 (September 8, 2006)