Since 1979, a Bureau of Labor Statistics survey has followed the same group of Americans. When first interviewed, the 9,964 men and women were ages 14 to 22. By age 58, they had held an average of 12.9 jobs. For the survey, a job is “an uninterrupted period of work with a particular employer.”
Much of the changing happened early. Over 40 percent of these jobs were held from ages 18 to 24.