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The Shifting Job Tenure Distribution

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  • Henry R. Hyatt
  • James R. Spletzer

Abstract

There has been a shift in the U.S. job tenure distribution toward longer-duration jobs since 2000. This change is apparent both in the tenure supplements to the Current Population Survey and in matched employer-employee data. A substantial portion of this shift can be accounted for by the ageing of the workforce and the decline in the entry rate of new employer businesses. This shift is accounted for more by declines in the hiring rate, which are concentrated in the labor market downturns associated with the 2001 and 2007-2009 recessions, rather than declines in separation rates. The increase in average real earnings since 2007 is less than what would be predicted by the shift toward longer-tenure jobs because of declines in tenure-held-constant real earnings. Regression estimates of the returns to job tenure provide no evidence that the shift in the job tenure distribution is being driven by better matches between workers and employers.

Suggested Citation

  • Henry R. Hyatt & James R. Spletzer, 2016. "The Shifting Job Tenure Distribution," Working Papers 16-12, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    • Handle: RePEc:cen:wpaper:16-12
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    4. John Grigsby & Erik Hurst & Ahu Yildirmaz, 2021. "Aggregate Nominal Wage Adjustments: New Evidence from Administrative Payroll Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(2), pages 428-471, February.
    5. Henry Hyatt & Erika McEntarfer & Ken Ueda & Alexandria Zhang, 2016. "Interstate Migration and Employer-to-Employer Transitions in the U.S.: New Evidence from Administrative Records Data," Working Papers 16-44r, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    6. Hie Joo Ahn & Bart Hobijn & Ayşegül Şahin, 2023. "The Dual U.S. Labor Market Uncovered," NBER Working Papers 31241, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Charles L. Baum, 2022. "Seven jobs in a lifetime? An analysis of employee tenure," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(2), pages 543-567, April.
    8. Peter Brummund & Laura Connolly, 2019. "Who Creates Stable Jobs? Evidence from Brazil," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 81(3), pages 540-563, June.
    9. Francesc Obiols-Homs & Virginia Sánchez-Marcos, 2022. "Labor Force Participation, Wages and Turbulence," Working Papers 1347, Barcelona School of Economics.
    10. Nellie Zhao & Henry Hyatt & Isabel Cairo, 2016. "The U.S. Job Ladder and the Low-Wage Jobs of the New Millennium," 2016 Meeting Papers 1414, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    11. Acharya, Sushant & Wee, Shu Lin, 2020. "On-the-job Search and the Productivity-Wage Gap," CEPR Discussion Papers 14430, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    12. Henry R. Hyatt & James R. Spletzer, 2016. "The Shifting Job Tenure Distribution†," Working Papers 16-12r, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    13. Ismail Baydur & Toshihiko Mukoyama, 2020. "Job Duration and Match Characteristics over the Business Cycle," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 37, pages 33-53, July.
    14. Xavier St-Denis & Matissa Hollister, 2024. "Are All the Stable Jobs Gone? The Transformation of the Worker–Firm Relationship and Trends in Job Tenure Duration and Separations in Canada, 1976–2015," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 38(3), pages 657-683, June.
    15. Henry Hyatt & Erika McEntarfer & Ken Ueda & Alexandria Zhang, 2018. "Interstate Migration and Employer-to-Employer Transitions in the United States: New Evidence From Administrative Records Data," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(6), pages 2161-2180, December.
    16. Serdar Birinci & Kurt See & Shu Lin Wee, 2020. "Job Applications and Labor Market Flows," Working Papers 2020-023, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, revised Jan 2023.
    17. E. Mark Curtis & Ryan A. Decker, 2018. "Entrepreneurship and State Taxation," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2018-003, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    18. Sumit K. Majumdar, 2021. "Horizontal shareholding, technology, and compensation: An evaluation," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(7), pages 1836-1848, October.

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    JEL classification:

    • J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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