Is the Queen in the last job for life?

As Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her 60th anniversary on the throne yesterday, she took the opportunity to dedicate the rest of her life to the job. Just to be clear, she told us that she has decided to stay on in her current rule for the rest of her life.

It's nice work if you can get it. While the Queen commits to a life of luxury, the rest of us have long-since given up on the idea of a job for life.

No jobs for life

The job for life is officially dead outside of the Royal family. It has been over three decades since most people could expect to stay in a role for the majority of their career.

According to the Office of National Statistics, now only one in ten of us can expect to stay in a job for more than 20 years. Meanwhile one in three of us have been in our current role for three years or less, 15% have been in our job for between thee and four years, 23% for between five and nine years, and 29% for ten years or more. Overall, the average time we will stay in our job is eight years.

Insecure

This makes us among the most insecure workforces in Europe. Compare that to Belgium and Poland, for example, where 48% of people have been in their job for ten years or more. Or compare it to Austria, the Czech Republic and Portugal where fewer than one in five have been in their job for less than three years.

The average length of time we are in any specific role continues to decline. The Office for National Statistics has found that men in particular are suffering more insecurity at work - particularly in manual jobs - where the average length of time in the job has fallen 20% in 25 years.

More to the point, we don't feel secure. The government's WERS survey found that just 17% strongly agree that their job is secure, while 17% either disagree or strongly disagree The rest feel fairly secure. However, that's a big chunk who are worried about their employment future.

Good or bad?

It's not a comforting thing to learn if you plan to take on any long-term commitments - like a mortgage or having a family - knowing that every few years your life is likely to be thrown into disarray by a job change, and that your income cannot be guaranteed.

However, it's not such a terrible thing: job mobility has its upsides. Along with the decline in jobs for life has come an increase in opportunities. Now people don't hang on for grim death, those who work hard and want to do well can earn an opportunity for promotion. Moving every eight years doesn't have to mean being made redundant, it can mean being promoted, or keeping active in the jobs market and finding something better.

This environment rewards the active: those who are building their skills, taking on responsibilities, and keeping an ear to the ground for potential new opportunities. If you take control of your working life, the death of the job for life isn't anything to fear.

If you want to discover the downside of giving jobs for life, just ask Prince Charles...