Managers and professionals had the highest median tenure among the major occupational groups.
Companies tend to hire for the line and fire from the staff.
Among men, median employee tenure decreased for most age groups, as it did in 1996. Among women, overall tenure changed little from 1996 to 1998. Overall, the proportion of men who had worked for their current employer for 10 years or more fell over the 1983 to 1998 period, while the proportion of women rose. The median years of tenure for older workers ages 45 to 54 was more than double that for workers ages 25 to 34. About a quarter of all workers age 16 and over had been with their current employer for 12 months or less.