Switching Jobs Isn’t So Easy Anymore
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Here's your Money Briefing for Tuesday, January 23rd. I'm J.R. Whelan for The Wall Street Journal. More Americans want a new job. But as they go through the process of finding a better job with better pay, they're running into a job market that's making it hard to move to something new.
People in August of 2022 who switched jobs were rewarded with an average 8% pay bump for making that move, which was three whole percentage points more than those who stayed in their jobs.
Who is considering changing jobs the most in 2024?
By last month, that premium narrowed.
We'll talk to Wall Street Journal reporter Anne-Marie Chaker about what to expect on a job hunt these days. After the break.
Workers who want to switch jobs are having a tough time making a move. Wall Street Journal reporter Anne-Marie Chaker joins me. Anne-Marie, who in the workforce is considering changing jobs the most?
So the big takeaway with this story, JR, is that roughly 85% of 1,000 U.S. professionals that were surveyed in a LinkedIn survey say they're thinking about changing jobs this year, and that's up from 67% a year earlier. That's huge.
Why are younger workers feeling 'stuck' and eager to switch roles?
That's a huge jump. Among those, 90% of Gen Z workers who are now in their early and mid-20s and 92% of millennials say say as much, that they're considering a job change this year.
Wow. So this desire to change jobs really skews young.
How have pay bumps for job switchers changed since 2022?
Why do so many of them want to switch jobs?
There's a general feeling of stuckness right now, and that is helping to fuel job dissatisfaction. A lot of people are wrestling with questions of work-life balance, and they've watched recent pay raises be eclipsed by inflation. Bosses are calling on them to do more with less. And the latest Gallup survey research shows that the share of US workers who say they felt engaged slipped in the second half of this year after a slight rebound in the first half. There's a lot of changes in how people perceive their work and their feelings about work right now.
Resignations and job switching were hallmarks of the pandemic-era job market, and we saw many workers who switched jobs score sizable pay raises. What does the pay picture look like now?
So the pay premium for a new job is thinning across the U.S.
Could recent layoffs and slower hiring explain smaller raises?
workforce. So people in August of 2022 who switched jobs were rewarded with an average 8% pay bump for making that move, which was three whole percentage points more than those who stayed in their jobs. And by last month, that window narrowed, that gap or that premium narrowed. So job switchers, you know, average raise was 5.7 percent, which compared with only 4.9 percent for workers who stayed put.
I guess the increasing wave of layoffs we've heard about could contribute to those numbers, too, right?
Yeah.
How might falling interest rates and AI reshape hiring this year?
Economists that were surveyed this month by the Wall Street Journal forecast hiring to average 64,000 a month this year, which is less than a third of the average in 2023. So they expect the professional services and the high-tech information sectors to be among the slowest growing fields. And companies will continue to scrutinize corporate roles as AI transforms and takes over some of the tasks, especially among knowledge workers.
In the past several months, we've seen interest rates come down, and some economists feel that interest rates could decline some more. How could that impact the job landscape?
So the thinking is as interest rates start to come down more, employers will feel more comfortable investing in infrastructure, buying a warehouse or investing in trucks or vans. And with those investments, they'll be able to start hiring again. So that's where that's important.
What strategies can job seekers use when switching jobs is harder?
And you'll start to have a lot of companies that feel comfortable both hiring and investing all at once. April to August, they say, is typically the best, strongest hiring season. There's reason to not give up hope. These things are cyclical and they always come back.
And then finally, what can job seekers do to put themselves in a better position to find a new role?
So now job seekers need to be strategic. That means really not ignoring networking. Networking is something that job seekers can and should do daily, not just when they need to find a job.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:02–0:37
2
Who is considering changing jobs the most in 2024?
0:37–1:29
3
Why are younger workers feeling 'stuck' and eager to switch roles?
1:29–1:48
4
How have pay bumps for job switchers changed since 2022?
1:48–2:48
5
Could recent layoffs and slower hiring explain smaller raises?
2:48–3:26
6
How might falling interest rates and AI reshape hiring this year?
3:26–4:28
7
What strategies can job seekers use when switching jobs is harder?
4:28–5:35
Speakers
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