Employment relations last over eight years on average

Helsinki (31.07.2010 - Juhani Artto) A recent study dispels the
generally held belief that the risk of losing one's job has significantly increased. Lifetime job histories from the years between 1963 and 2004, as documented in pension records, are evidence that the change has been surprisingly limited.

In 2004, the average duration of employment relations was about 8.5 years. This was longer than in the latter half of the 1960s and around the same level as the 1970’s. In the 1980’s the average term of employment varied between 9 and 9.5 years but dropped sharply through the 1990’s when it went down to about 8 years in the early years of the new millennium. Then the average began to rise once again.

However, the researchers are quick to point out that by simply analysing the changes in job stability, based on the elapsed duration of ongoing jobs, may be quite misleading. The fluctuations in the hazard rate -together with the changes in labour market entry rates- have complicated dynamic effects on tenure distribution, they say.

Read the whole study:

+ Miikka Rokkanen and Roope Uusitalo, Changes in job stability - evidence from life time job histories, 2010