US Employment Rate 2012: Employment Levels Remain Consistent Since 2002 (GALLUP)

The latest economy report by Gallup released on Wednesday revealed that the number of employed Americans who work for a private company has risen by six percentage points since the economic collapse in 2008, from 52 percent to 58 percent. The report stated that American employment levels, however, have remained largely steady since 2002.

According to the Gallup report, which is conducted each year in August, between 50 and 60 percent of employed Americans have said they work for a private company each year. About two in 10 Americans have said they work for the government or are self-employed and about one in 10 said they work for a nonprofit, the report revealed.

Wednesday's report also found that the amount of hours employed Americans work in a week have remained stable in the past 10 years. A majority of employed Americans (42 percent) reported working an average of 35-44 hours per week.

However, 29 percent of American workers reported working 45-59 hours a week and 13 percent reported working more than 60 hours a week. A small group of employed Americans (17 percent) also reported working less than 34 hours weekly, Gallup said.

Gallup's report revealed that employed Americans are staying at their present companies for longer periods of time than they were in 2002. According to the results, the average time at a company is 9.2 years in 2012 compared to 7.4 years in 2002.

"These figures could reflect an aging population, or perhaps workers sticking it out with their current company through tough economic times, or a combination of both," Gallup stated.

Given higher unemployment rates than in 2002, American workers have managed to maintain "the status quo in terns of the sectors in which they work and how many hours they tend to put in each week." How this may affect the declining rate of unemployment and the nation's job creation climate has yet to be decided.

Gallup noted, "as more jobs are created, workers may be more likely to jump from their current place of employment to a new opportunity." This means that employers will have to work harder at keeping their "best talent" from moving on to a new job, the report said.