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Job Absence Reverses Direction in the Second Quarter; Employee Turnover Stays Well Below Pre-Recession Levels, Bloomberg BNA Survey Finds

Arlington, Va. (September 10, 2013) – A Bloomberg BNA quarterly survey of employers released this week reveals that job absence rates declined in the second quarter of 2013, reversing a modest upward trend, and that employee turnover remains relatively flat.

Unscheduled Job Absence
Job absence rates declined in the second quarter of 2013, reversing a modest upward trend observed since early 2012, according to Bloomberg BNA’s Quarterly Survey on Job Absence and Turnover. In the first quarter, absenteeism had climbed to its highest levels in more than three years. Median monthly rates of unscheduled absence (excluding long-term absences and partial days off) averaged 0.7 percent of scheduled worker days in April, May, and June, down from 0.9 percent in the first quarter and 0.8 percent in the second quarter of 2012.

Median rates for April (0.6 percent) and May (0.7 percent) of 2013 each were two-tenths of a percentage point lower than in the same months of 2012; the rate for June was unchanged at 0.7 percent. In 12 of the previous 15 months, the median absence rate had outpaced the figure recorded a year earlier.

Employee Turnover
Worker separations in April, May, and June gave no indication of a resurgence in employee turnover. Median rates of permanent departure averaged 0.8 percent of the workforce per month in the second quarter, up slightly from the first quarter (0.7 percent—turnover often is highest in the spring and summer) but below the second-quarter average in 2012 (0.9 percent).

Median separation rates for April (0.7 percent), May (0.7 percent) and June (0.9 percent) each were lower than in the same months in 2012. Turnover has exhibited marginal, inconsistent variations over the past few years, and permanent employee separations (excluding layoffs and reductions-in-force) continue to fall well short of levels recorded before the Great Recession.

About the Survey: The survey is conducted quarterly among a panel of human resource executives representing organizations throughout the United States. Of the 253 employers responding in time for tabulation of this survey, 51 percent have fewer than 250 workers, 15 percent have workforces of 250 to 499 employees, 12 percent employ 500 to 999 workers, 9 percent have workforces of 1,000 to 2,499 employees, and 13 percent employ at least 2,500 workers. By industry, 22 percent of the organizations are manufacturing companies, 52 percent are nonmanufacturing firms, and 26 percent are nonbusiness establishments (e.g., health care, education, government). By region, 21 percent of the employers are located in the Northeast, 38 percent are in the South, 29 percent operate in the North Central states, and 12 percent are located in the West.  Total employment of the reporting organizations: 698,311.