December 14, 1998 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
Young workers more likely to try
new occupations
In February 1996, almost one of every five
workers had entered a new occupation within the past year. Young workers were most
likely to be occupational entrants; about 48 percent of all workers aged 16 to 24 were new
to their occupations.
![Occupational entrants by age](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120921210020im_/http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/images/1998/Dec/wk3/art01.gif)
[Chart data—TXT]
The percentages of workers entering a new occupation declines with age. Although workers aged 35 to 44 had the largest employment by age group, only 12.5 percent
of those workers had entered a new occupation in the previous year. The proportion fell to
9.3 percent for workers aged 45-54, and 7.0 percent for workers aged 55 and over.
Younger workers have higher occupational entry rates for several reasons. Many young
workers enter their first job after completing school; 45 percent of young entrants were
not working the previous year. Additionally, young workers often try out several
occupations before settling on a career.
These data are a product of the Current
Population Survey. Additional information is available from
"Occupational Entrants in 1995-96", Occupational Outlook Quarterly, Winter
1998-99.
Of interest
Spotlight on Statistics: National Hispanic Heritage Month
In this Spotlight, we take a look at the Hispanic labor force—including labor force participation, employment and unemployment, educational attainment, geographic location, country of birth, earnings, consumer expenditures, time use, workplace injuries, and employment projections.
.
Read more »
|