Seven Careers in a Lifetime? Think Twice, Researchers Say

[n2doc]

Do Americans really go through careers like they do cars or refrigerators?

As workers take in the latest round of monthly unemployment data over Labor Day weekend, Americans are focused on volatility in the job market. Much of what they hear points to growing job instability and increased autonomy of workers. Among the most-repeated claims is that the average U.S. worker will have many careers—seven is the most widely cited number—in his or her lifetime.

Jobs researchers say the basis of the number is a mystery. "Seven careers per person sounds utterly implausible to me," says Ann Stevens, professor and chair of the economics department at the University of California, Davis.

Yet the estimate has had extraordinary staying power. One reason is that no one knows for sure the true average number of careers. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Labor Department's data arm, doesn't track lifetime careers. Even so, the figure is erroneously attributed to BLS so often that the agency includes a corrective memo on its website, explaining that "no consensus has emerged on what constitutes a career change."

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704206804575468162805877990.html

[Mimosa]

1. Careers and jobs aren't the same. n/t

[elocs]

4. Right. At age 58 I've had many jobs, but never any career.

I even have a university degree.

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

2. 3 career-length employment terms

so far here in my life, in 3 completely separate businesses, and I've just entered my 40s.

[Warren Stupidity]

3. It takes 10-20 years to become truly skilled at anything difficult.

So I think those other six careers are mostly 'greeter at walmarts' careers.

[Davis_X_Machina]

5. Which is exactly why...

...we need term limits. :banghead:

[customerserviceguy]

6. I've had several

I've been a title examiner/officer, a tax accountant, a computer repair person, a fast-food manager, a semiconductor factory worker, and my handle tells you my latest one. I spent about twenty years at the first one, with the second one interspersed between it. I can imagine that people might have another one or two careers shoved in there, although I suppose it's not typical to do so for most folks.