How long have you stayed in the same job, and how does it compare to other Americans over time? The trends may surprise you!

Flowing Data breaks down the data across two interactive graphs. The first graph shows how long people worked the same job from 1996-2024.

The second graph explores the data further, allowing you to filter the data by age, sex, and education level.

Questions:

• The first chart lets you change the number of years to define "long tenure." How does the overall picture change when you slide from, say, 5 years to 25 years?
• Why do you think fewer people stay in their jobs as time goes on?
• The author begins the post by saying "It seems like people don't stick with the same job for as long as they used to, but maybe that's not the case." What does the data actually show, and why might our perception of job loyalty not match reality?
• Think about the kinds of jobs available to someone without a high school degree versus someone with a bachelor's degree. How might the nature of those jobs (physical demands, wages, advancement opportunities) influence how long someone stays?
• If you could add one more filter or variable to these charts (e.g. industry, race, or geographic region), what would you choose and why? What new questions do you think it could help answer?

Follow this interactive with materials from NGPF’s Career Unit!

Interested in similar content? Check out NGPF’s Blog!

About the Author

Sonia Dalal

Sonia has always been passionate about instruction and improving students' learning experiences. She's come a long way since her days as a first grader, when she would "teach" music and read to her very attentive stuffed animals after school. Since then, she has taught students as a K-12 tutor, worked in several EdTech startups in the Bay Area, and completed her Ed.M in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is passionate about bringing the high quality personal finance content and instruction she wished she'd received in school to the next generation of students and educators. When she isn't crafting lesson guides or working with teachers, Sonia loves to spend her time singing, being outdoors, and adventuring with family and friends!

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