The Death of the Company Man

Fast Company, via the Dish:

 According to recent statistics, the median number of years a U.S. worker has been in his or her current job is just 4.4, down sharply since the 1970s. This decline in average job tenure is bigger than any economic cycle, bigger than any particular industry, bigger than differences in education levels, and bigger than differences in gender. (Since women are more likely to interrupt their careers for child rearing and caregiving, their average time in a job is even shorter than a man's.) Statistically, the shortening of the job cycle has been driven by two factors. The first is a marked decline in the "long job"--that is, the traditional 20-year capstone to a career. Simultaneously, there's been an increase in "churning"-- workers well into their thirties who have been at their current job for less than a year. "For some reason I don't understand, employers seem to value having long-term employees less than they used to," says Henry Farber, an economist at Princeton. Farber has been documenting the decline in job tenure in papers with titles such as "Is the Company Man an Anachronism?" (Answer: yes.) Shorter job tenure is associated with a new era of insecurity, volatility, and risk. It's part of the same employment picture as the increase in part-time, freelance, and contract work; mass layoffs and buyouts; and "creative destruction" within industries.

A lot of different things figure into this trend.  One is the rapid pace of technological change.  It is often harder for the long-time employee to adjust to major changes in their work.  With computers and software changing much more frequently, that really grinds down the productivity advantage a long-time employee has over a new hire.  On the other hand, getting rid of long-time employees is much more socially acceptable than it used to be.  Companies in the past would have been considered jerks for getting rid of the employee with twenty years in, but not so much today.  This becomes a big issue when talking about teachers and government workers.  These folks are probably beyond the point where they could switch careers, but some of them would probably be let go in the private sector.  I haven't decided whether keeping them until retirement is the right decision or the wrong decision.