Stuck in your job? You're not alone

The number of years we’re staying with the same employer is on the rise, but that’s not necessarily a sign of job security.

As of January, workers had been with their current employers for an average of 4.4 years, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s up from 4.1 years as of January of 2008, the last time the government gathered that data.

The BLS said median employee tenure rose in part because so many less senior workers have lost their jobs in the past couple years.

That’s skewed the numbers in favor of the more experienced workers who were able to hold onto their jobs through the weak economy.

There also haven’t been many jobs out there for people to move to, even if they wanted to change employers.

There were 3 million job openings in July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s up from a low of 2.3 million job openings as of July of 2009, but it’s still well below the 4.4 million job openings as of December 2007, when the recent recession began.

The employee tenure figure, which is collected every two years, has generally been on the rise since the 2000. That year, employees had stayed with their employer for 3.5 years, on average.

Not surprisingly, older workers are more likely to have had their jobs the longest. The median employee tenure for workers ages 55 to 64 was 10 years. That compares to 3.1 years for workers 25 to 34 years old.