Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP1098
Authors: Simon Burgess; Hedley Rees
Abstract: We examine 17 years of a large cross-section to build up a picture of job tenure in Britain. We show that men (women) can expect to hold their present job for about 18 (12) years. These summarize bimodal distributions, with one mode at short tenures, and one at very long tenures. We find some change in the mean job tenure: a decrease in elapsed tenure of about 10% between 1982 and 1991. These are important changes, but they do not support the view that the dramatic changes in the labour market, technology and competition have spelt the end of `jobs for life'.
Keywords: job tenure; separation rate; labour turnover
JEL Codes: J63
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| economic recessions (F44) | average job tenure increases (J29) |
| economic recoveries (E65) | average job tenure decreases (J63) |
| age and years of schooling (I21) | job tenure (M51) |
| bimodal distributions of job tenure (J63) | men can expect to hold their present job for about 18 years (J29) |
| bimodal distributions of job tenure (J63) | women can expect to hold their jobs for about 12 years (J21) |
| 1982-1991 period (E65) | significant decrease in mean job tenure (J63) |
| labor market transformations (J48) | elimination of lifetime jobs (J63) |