Switching jobs is not any longer the moneymaking profession move it once was.
In February, annual wage growth for individuals who switched jobs actually fell behind those that stayed of their current roles, in line with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s wage growth tracker. Job switchers saw their wages go up by 4.2%, while wages for so-called job stayers jumped 4.4%.
“This advantage has vanished,” Sofia Baig, an economist at Morning Seek the advice of, says in an email.
The trend marks the primary time job stayers beat job switchers by way of wage growth since 2018. And it’s a stark reversal from the tight labor market employees experienced throughout the pandemic.
Amid the labor shortage in 2022, as an illustration, job openings were plentiful and employers were paying a premium. Wages spiked 8.5% that July — the best reading because the Atlanta Fed began tracking wage data in 1997. Job stayers saw a handsome earnings bump too that month, with wage growth clocking in at an abnormally high 5.9%.
The image is way different today. Employees now have “fewer opportunities to change jobs and to comprehend wage gains,” Bill Congdon, labor economist and senior fellow on the Urban Institute, says in an email.
With rates of interest being held high to maintain a lid on inflation, the labor market has notably cooled. Baig notes that hiring activity is right down to levels we haven’t seen in over a decade — but layoffs, no less than, usually are not widespread.
Now staying put has develop into the more lucrative alternative for employees — a predicament some are starting to call “the nice stay.”
Nonetheless, with inflation remaining stubbornly high, hanging on to at least one current job is solely not enough for a lot of Americans to make ends meet.
Are job hoppers becoming job hoarders?
As switching jobs becomes less lucrative, we’re starting to see a surge in Americans who’re taking up multiple jobs.
In February, the Labor Department reported that greater than 9 million people held no less than two jobs, the biggest variety of multiple jobholders on record and a 7.4% increase from the yr prior. Women and employees aged 20 to 24 usually tend to hold multiple jobs than other groups.
Congdon notes that while the sheer number is increasing, the share of employees with multiple jobs has previously registered higher than it did in February.
Still, the overemployment trend is having a moment. For some employees, it is a necessity. For others, it’s a chance to money in. Within the subreddit r/overemployed, members often document how they juggle multiple (mostly distant) jobs at the identical time. The web forum was created in 2021 and has already garnered greater than 400,000 members. Similarly, on each LinkedIn and TikTok, influencers and profession coaches alike are openly sharing advice on working multiple distant jobs directly and never getting caught.
Based on a recent report from the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, overemployment is becoming increasingly popular amongst college-educated employees specifically. The evaluation found that individuals with multiple jobs do tend to earn more money but just barely — out-earning single job employees by only $900 a yr.
“This behavior could be attributed to a desire to maintain pace with recent inflation,” the researchers wrote.
For Baig, with Morning Seek the advice of, all of this points to a slowing labor market. She says that individuals with multiple jobs probably couldn’t get the hours or wage they wanted with the primary one.
“So that they are working multiple jobs to be able to make an appropriate wage,” she says. “I’m sure they might slightly be working one job that paid what they wanted.”
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