U.S. Long-Tenured Worker Displacement, 2021-2023 

By Lainey Stalnaker, Analytics Coordinator

Between 2021 and 2023, 6.3 million workers were displaced from their jobs nationwide.[1] Of this 6.3 million, 2.6 million were long-tenured workers—those over the age of 20 who held the same job for a minimum of three years. This is a decrease of one million from the previous survey covering 2019 through 2021. Aside from this period, long-tenured worker displacement has slowly declined over the last ten years. From 2013 to 2015, 3.2 million long-tenured workers were displaced. From 2015 to 2017, this number dropped to three million, and from 2017 to 2019, there were 2.7 million long-tenured displaced workers.

Of the 2.6 million long-tenured workers displaced between 2021 and 2023, 364 thousand were located in the South Atlantic Division (which includes South Carolina), an increase from the 2019 to 2021 period.[2] By January 2024, 61.1 percent of these workers were reemployed, which is lower than the national average. 22.7 percent remained unemployed, the highest of any division.

Displacement occurs when an employee loses or leaves their job due to elimination of their position or shift, the closure or move of their company or plant, or not having enough work to do. At 16.6 percent, the largest proportion of long-tenured displaced workers came from the Manufacturing supersector. Professional and Business Services was second at 15.1 percent, followed by Wholesale and Retail Trade at 13.5 percent. See Figure 1 for a breakdown of worker displacement by supersector.

Breakdown by Activity

By January 2024, 65.7 percent of long-tenured displaced workers were reemployed, with Government, Leisure and Hospitality, and Transportation and Utilities workers most likely to have found new employment. 89.8 percent of Government workers were reemployed in January 2024. Only 2.8 percent remained unemployed, with the remaining 7.4 percent having left the labor force – meaning that the individual stopped looking for employment. Information workers had the lowest rate of reemployment at 47.1 percent, and over a third exited the labor force entirely, the highest of any industry. And at 24.5 percent, workers displaced from the Financial Activities industry were most likely to be unemployed in January of 2024. Figure 2 below charts employment and unemployment rates by industry.

Breakdown by Income

Among long-tenured displaced workers who were reemployed in January 2024, the majority earned an equivalent or higher salary compared to their last job. At 80.0 percent, those who lost jobs in the Leisure and Hospitality supersector were most likely to be making their previous income or more. Education and Health Services was a close second at 77.1 percent. Remarkably, over 40 percent of workers displaced from these two supersectors increased their earnings by 20 percent or more after finding reemployment. In contrast, only 31.1 percent of displaced Construction workers came out even or ahead. Transportation and Utilities workers were nearly split down the middle, with displaced workers just slightly more likely to be making less in their new jobs than their old jobs. See Figure 3 below for a breakdown of change in earnings for displaced workers by industry of lost job.

Conclusion

The percentage of long-tenured displaced workers who found new employment has changed little since the last worker displacement survey, but the drop in the number displaced may be signaling a return to the positive trends from the last decade. The percentage of workers who remained unemployed in the South Atlantic Division, however, increased for this survey period, emphasizing the importance of support for displaced workers. Remember that SC Works Centers and Connection Points throughout the state can offer valuable assistance, including connecting jobseekers to employers, helping to file for unemployment insurance, and providing public access to computers and tools that aid displaced workers in their search for new employment. More information can be found at https://scworks.org/centers.

[1] https://www.bls.gov/news.release/disp.nr0.htm

[2] The South Atlantic Division includes Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.