Time on the job and succession

Shorter time with one employer is not lower capability. The figure says nothing about skill, performance or readiness. The panels below are the conditions beside it, each a national series against its private-sector or all-employed comparison.

Tenure in state, federal and private employment, and the classification change

The median local government employee had worked for their current employer for 8.3 years in January 2016 and 6.4 years in January 2024, on the earlier industry classification. In January 2026 the median was 5.4 years under the new classification, which the Bureau says is not strictly comparable with earlier years. The figure covers every local government employee, schools included. In the same month the median was 5.4 years in state government, 7.0 years in the federal government and 3.9 years in private industry (Bureau of Labor Statistics).

What the wage and separation figures do and do not say

Wages are a condition beside the shorter tenure, not a measured cause of it. The benefits share is what governments spend on health care and retirement; it is not a judgment on the people who receive it. Advocacy groups on each side read these wages differently. The Economic Policy Institute, which is labor-aligned, finds state and local workers’ wages and total compensation below those of similarly educated private workers. The American Enterprise Institute, which is right-of-center, found state workers’ wages below those of similar private workers from 2009 to 2012 and their total compensation, with pensions and retiree health, above; it says its findings should not be extended to local government employees. This page takes no position on the level of total compensation.

Other separations, which include retirement, transfer, death and disability, ran between 0.2% and 0.3% of employment a month in every year from 2001 to 2025. Both rates are published to one decimal, which hides small moves, and retirements are not counted on their own. Two other readings sit beside the quits line. In late 2025, 51% of U.S. employees across all employers were looking for or watching for a new job (Gallup); looking and leaving are different measures, and that series is charted on the Workforce Expectations page.