A measure of economic stability oftentimes ­­– but not always — is continuity.

But many companies are slamming shut the door regarding continuity, and how that will play out is a big wait-and-see question that will take a few years for an answer to be delivered, or at least a trend to be indicated.

One bottom line, though, is that employees of an increasing number of companies are feeling uneasy about what might come next and whether it will be good or bad for them.

“Faster CEO turnover at U.S. public companies has put the biggest class of incoming chief executives in years at the helm of massive enterprises — and the newcomers are younger and less experienced than before,” the Wall Street Journal said in a front-page article in its Feb. 17 edition.

According to the Journal, a new analysis has found that about one CEO in nine was replaced last year across 1,500 of the biggest publicly traded companies.

“We’re in a new environment, and someone who’s going to replay the playbooks of the past is not necessarily right,” said James Citrin, head of the global CEO practice at executive-recruiting firm Spencer Stuart, which produced the report.

He said if a CEO doesn’t get momentum, both internally with operating performance and also with investors, then boards are more impatient even than they were.

Many people believe CEOs have the least to worry about, in regard to stability within their positions. However, it is becoming more evident, judging from the current round of turnovers, that CEOs might actually have less stability than most of the people working under them.

And, that worry — some people would refer to it as distraction — can be a seed for bad decision making to heap trouble upon difficult challenges that already exist.

Especially in places the size of Altoona and Johnstown, eye-opening and meriting the proverbial snap-to-attention is an observation that, especially in retail, the crosscurrents buffeting companies since the pandemic demand different approaches. In that regard, think back — or perhaps forward — to the Black Friday retail experience that traditionally has followed Thanksgiving, kicking off Christmas shopping.

Online shopping and television’s home shopping opportunities have made Black Friday a shell of what it used to be, and retailers here and across the rest of this nation have had to adjust to the new realities.

Many CEOs have been successful in that endeavor and remain entrenched in their positions; the lights are off in places that haven’t found the right formula, and CEOs and other top personnel have moved on to what they hope will amount to greener pastures.

Again, according to the Journal’s report, in the last quarter of 2025 alone, companies with a combined market capitalization of $1.3 trillion appointed or lost chiefs. Companies that have added or lost leaders this year so far have a combined value of $2.2 trillion.

It’s staggering to think what that 2026 total will be on Dec. 31 of this year.

Spencer Stuart has ascertained that incoming CEOs have so far averaged 54 years old this year, compared with nearly 56 for last year’s appointees.

The Journal said 80% of last year’s 168 incoming CEOs were first-timers “with no prior experience running public companies or other major stand-alone enterprises.”

No doubt, the newcomers’ decision-making skills will be evaluated over the course of the next couple years. All that can be said now, amid this movement away from continuity, is that everyone, including their employees, can only hope for the best.