New Study Shows American Workforce Restless;One-Quarter of Workforce Planning Career Change in...

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 24, 1999--

Half of working Americans would consider changing their career and nearly 25 percent are planning to make a career change in the next 12 months. Only three percent of working adults say they are satisfied with their current job.

Americans rank the opportunity to make more money (29.5%) as their number one reason for changing careers. Personal happiness is second (23.7%) in importance. Job satisfaction (6.5%) and better hours (3.6%) ranked third and fourth, respectively.

The findings are part of a new survey released today by Career Education Corporation, a leading provider of private, postsecondary education. The nationwide survey, conducted among employed adults 18 and older, measured job satisfaction and employment trends in the American workforce.

"This survey underscores how dramatically attitudes in the workforce have changed in recent years," said John M. Larson, president and chief executive officer of Career Education Corporation. "Americans don't fear career change - they embrace it. They aren't sitting back and looking for the `cradle to grave' jobs anymore. Instead, they're working to improve their lives significantly by developing the career skills they need to advance in the new economy."

     Among the key findings:

-    "Career changers" making more money. More than half of the survey
     respondents (54%) said they have changed careers. Of these, 60
     percent obtained additional education or training to prepare for
     their new careers. More than three quarters (76%) reported their
     earnings have increased, with 15 percent saying their earnings
     have at least doubled.

-    Current level of income, education have little impact on career
     change decisions. Among Americans who have considered a career
     change, nearly half (47%) of those making $50,000 or more a year
     said they have considered it, close to the 63 percent earning
     less than $15,000 per year.

     The same percentage (47%) of those with high school and
     postgraduate educations said they have considered a career
     change.

-    Technology is not a barrier to career change. Only two percent of
     respondents said they were afraid of learning the technology
     needed to start a new career. Age was the primary reason named
     for making