September 23, 1999 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
How long does it take a displaced worker to find a new job?
Among workers who
were displaced in 1995 and 1996 and then found a new job, the median
amount of time without work was 7.6 weeks.
![Weeks without work of long-tenured workers displaced in 1995-96 who found new jobs, by age](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120925110736im_/http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/images/1999/Sept/wk4/art04.gif)
[Chart data—TXT]
Median weeks without work for reemployed displaced workers varied by
age. Workers between the ages of 25 and 34 had the shortest median—4.0
weeks. Those in the 45-54 age group had the longest median, at 11.6 weeks.
For the oldest group, age 55 and over, median weeks without work for
the reemployed were lower than for 35-to-44-year-olds and
45-to-54-year-olds. However, workers age 55 and over were much less likely
to be reemployed than other workers—the reemployment rate was 60 percent
for workers age 55 and above, compared to 89 percent for workers age 25 to
54 years.
Figures cited here are for "long-tenured workers"—those who
had been in their jobs for 3 years or longer. Displaced workers lose their
jobs because their plants or companies close down or move, their positions
or shifts are abolished, or their employers do not have enough work for
them to do.
These data are from a February 1998 supplement to the Current
Population Survey. Note that the
reemployment rate is the proportion of displaced workers employed at the
time of the survey. Find more information on displacement in "Worker
displacement in the mid-1990s," by
Steven Hipple, Monthly Labor Review, July 1999.
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.
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Read more »