2000 Number of Jobs, Labor Market Experience, and Earnings Growth: Results from a National Longitudinal Survey — 2000-04-25

The average person in the U.S. holds 9.2 jobs from age 18 to age 34, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. More than half of these jobs were held between the ages of 18 and 24. These findings are from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79), a survey of 9,964 young men and women who were born between 1957 and 1964. These respondents were 14 to 22 years of age when first interviewed in 1979 and 33 to 41 when interviewed most recently in 1998. The survey spans nearly two decades and provides information on work and nonwork experiences, training, schooling, income and assets, health conditions, and other characteristics.