Long-Tenured Displaced Workers (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
Sept. 19, 2018 |
| Report Number |
IF10984 |
| Report Type |
In Focus |
| Authors |
Sarah A. Donovan, Marc Labonte |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
Job separations are a part of most workers’ careers. Some
workers leave jobs to pursue other opportunities; others are
fired for poor performance or because they are otherwise
not a good fit. In some cases, workers experience job
displacement (i.e., involuntary job separations that occur
when businesses shut down, move, or cut back shifts). Job
displacement is of particular interest to policymakers
because the separations tend to be caused by worsening
economic conditions or changing production patterns (as
opposed to worker performance), and can permanently alter
local job prospects. Costs of such job loss can be
particularly high for long-tenured workers, whose
investments in job-specific skills do not transfer completely
to, and do not result in higher wages in, new jobs.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) defines long-tenured
displaced workers as workers age 20 or older who held
their job for at least three years before separating due to the
closure or relocation of a company or worksite, insufficient
work, or the elimination of a position or shift. BLS reports
that in the three-year interval from 2015 to 2017, 3 million
long-tenured workers and 3.8 million short-tenured (less
than three years of tenure) workers were displaced. While
these losses were significant, most job loss is not a result of
displacement. Using broader estimates of job loss, BLS
estimates that there were 57.8 million layoffs or discharges
over the same period. (Different from long-tenured
displaced workers, layoffs and discharges include workers
fired for cause and workers with fewer than three years of
job tenure, and are not limited to one observation per
worker). An additional 113.2 million workers willingly left
their jobs (e.g., quit, retired), illustrating that job
separations are frequent and largely voluntary.
