Answer: 11.7 jobs

Questions:

• What are the primary reasons that people would change jobs? 
  • Have you ever left a job? Why? 
• Think about an adult that you know well, how many years have they worked and how many different jobs have they held?
• What do you think the trend will be with your generation: more jobs or fewer jobs in the first 30 years of their career?
• Assuming that this statistic stays relatively constant, what does it tell you about the skills required to have a successful career?  

Here's the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.

Behind the numbers:

This nugget was gleaned as I was doing research on the blog post from yesterday. I think we can talk about how the job market is changing and the need for lifelong learning but the reality hits home when you see a statistic like this. The data comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics which finds that people who they tracked from the age of 18 to 48 held 11.7 jobs. About 27 percent of them were particularly prone to hop, holding 15 jobs or more, while 10 percent held zero to four jobs. Including my summer jobs, I am just about average! Clearly we better prepare our students to be constantly upgrading their skills so the jobs moves have an upward trajectory and not a lateral movement to them.  

On the subject of lifelong learning, EdSurge provided this wisdom in their newsletter this morning:

But how much learning is enough? Apparently, 5 hours a week, or an hour every weekday, according to a Quartz contributor. Anything less, he writes, and “you’re being irresponsible.” (Ouch.) The post includes a rather ambitious set of tips that can maximize your learning efficiency and “master your learning ritual.” It can be daunting, but it might be why the richest and busiest people power through more books than most of us do.

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Looking for more career-related resources, check out NGPF's Career unit page for a plethora of options!

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

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