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I don’t think this article makes the right comparison to determine whether people switch jobs more often “these days”. They only go back to the mid 2000s. When

I don’t think this article makes the right comparison to determine whether people switch jobs more often “these days”. They only go back to the mid 2000s. When I hear or talk about the idea that people change jobs more frequently now, I definitely include people who started working then, and I don’t think a decade is sufficient time to see a trend in tenure. I’d be more interested in a comparison between the 00s/10s and the 60s/70s/80s (ish). Stratifying by age would probably be more informative than simply comparing the median tenure in two different years as well.

eesmith 7y ago
I'm a Gen X "slacker." In my 20s I lived in Silicon Valley during the dot-com era of the late 1990s. It was a widely held belief that you needed to move jobs every year or two, because in-house wage increases weren't following the market demand. Personally, I despise "millennial" characterizations like 'lazy' and 'self-entitled'. All they've done is file off the slurs toward Gen X kids and re-used them for the next wave of young people. Oh, scratch that - Gen X and hippies. And beatniks. (Shout out to Maynard G. Krebs!) Why, it's like old people forget what it was like when they were young.
firstplacelast 7y ago
I only have anecdata, but my Dad worked at a total of 2 places since his late 20’s (he retired several years ago). He spent a decade at one company then left for another company where he worked for 30 years and topped out at a VP making 200-something a year in a low cost of living area. No college degree, not very substantial critical thinking skills, and not a good “people person.” When interviewing for his replacement, they wouldn’t consider anyone without an MBA.
bryanrasmussen 7y ago
well I remember articles from the beginning of the century talking about how much more job switching there was nowadays, with comparisons to the 60s 70s 80s, my memory suggesting that the trend was generally suggested to have started in the 90s.

eesmith 7y ago

I'm a Gen X "slacker." In my 20s I lived in Silicon Valley during the dot-com era of the late 1990s. It was a widely held belief that you needed to move jobs every year or two, because in-house wage increases weren't following the market demand. Personally, I despise "millennial" characterizations like 'lazy' and 'self-entitled'. All they've done is file off the slurs toward Gen X kids and re-used them for the next wave of young people. Oh, scratch that - Gen X and hippies. And beatniks. (Shout out to Maynard G. Krebs!) Why, it's like old people forget what it was like when they were young.

firstplacelast 7y ago

I only have anecdata, but my Dad worked at a total of 2 places since his late 20’s (he retired several years ago). He spent a decade at one company then left for another company where he worked for 30 years and topped out at a VP making 200-something a year in a low cost of living area. No college degree, not very substantial critical thinking skills, and not a good “people person.” When interviewing for his replacement, they wouldn’t consider anyone without an MBA.

bryanrasmussen 7y ago

well I remember articles from the beginning of the century talking about how much more job switching there was nowadays, with comparisons to the 60s 70s 80s, my memory suggesting that the trend was generally suggested to have started in the 90s.