Americans are still pretty flexible about changing jobs
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
For months, we have seen reports that Americans are far less mobile than they used to be — even if jobs await in another part of the country, a lot of people just don't want to, or feel they cannot, move. But they are pretty flexible at least in one respect, the willingness to change jobs. And a big reason is that many are rewarded handsomely for doing so, according to ADP, the payroll firm.
The bottom line: If you are a construction worker, and you held onto your job rather than accept an offer that came along, you are being paid a bit more on average than your workmate who switched to the other company — $31.71 an hour versus $28.51 at the new firm. But your buddy may surpass you later — the average construction switcher's wages were going up at a 5.8% annual rate in the third quarter of this year, compared with 4.9% for those who held onto their job.
The numbers are starkest in the hospitality industry: Job-switchers in hospitality earned $23.18 an hour, versus $25.73 for those remaining loyal to their company; but switchers were seeing 6.9% year-on-year wage growth compared with 4.8% for those who stuck around.
But but but:
- Given the tightness of the labor market—unemployment is at just 4.1% — why aren't wages higher for switchers from the get-go?
- Ahu Yildirmaz, an economist who directs the ADP Research Institute, says one reason is that high-wage baby boomers are leaving their jobs and being replaced by lower-wage millennials.
- So the millennials may actually be receiving higher pay than they normally would at their level of experience.
The other trend is those willing to shift work, ADP said. Job-switching is at an all-time high, the firm said, with 27% saying in the third quarter of the year that they were in the midst of changing employment (up from 23% in the first quarter of 2015). And 63% said they are actively or passively looking for new jobs.
