September 20, 2002 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Gender differences in employee tenure

The median number of years that wage and salary workers had been with their current employer was 3.7 years in January 2002. Employee tenure was somewhat higher for men than for women, but the gap was smaller than it was in the 1980s.

[Chart data—TXT]

Median tenure (the point at which half of the workers had more tenure and half had less tenure) was 3.9 years for men and 3.4 years for women in January 2002. Median tenure has been about one-half year higher for men than for women since 1996, compared with a difference of about one year in prior survey years.

These data are from a supplement to the Current Population Survey. The questions on tenure measure how long workers had been with their current employer at the time they were surveyed, not how long they will eventually stay with their employer. See Employee Tenure in 2002, news release USDL 02-531 for more information.