Newsroom

These detailed tables and charts from the Survey of Income and Program Participation examine the relationship between years of work experience, job tenure (years at a particular job), work status (full or part-time), presence of gaps in employment of six months or more, age, sex, educational attainment and earnings.

The findings show, for example, that among women with more than 10 years of experience, those who have “gaps” in employment of more than six months have lower earnings compared with women with no gaps since beginning work. However, when comparing these women by levels of job tenure, the differences are smaller. The findings also show that on average, women accumulate experience more slowly starting around age 25. Another key finding: not only does completing a college degree mean greater earnings upon entering the job market than not being a college graduate, it results in earnings increasing at a higher rate with experience than for lower levels of education.