Job switching is a long-time employee tactic. To get a better position. To get a raise. Etc. Now, it is a good time to switch jobs and increase one’s earnings. According to recent research from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
[Note: It’s been a long summer for us. COVID. Rebound COVID. Pneumonia, that resulted in a six-night hospital stay. Back to looking ahead and loving life. 🙂 ]
Higher Pay Makes It a Good Time to Switch Jobs
As the Wall Street Journal reports:
Now Is the most rewarding time to switch jobs in years. Pay raises for job hoppers are the biggest they’ve been in more than two decades, a sign of workers’ power despite hints of a cooling job market.
Labor shortages and inflation are lifting wages across the economy, particularly for workers changing employers. Those who recently left for a new employer netted an annual raise of about 8.5% as of July, up from 7.9% in June and the biggest median pay increase for job hoppers in more than 20 years, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.Â
The gap in pay raises for job switchers versus those who stay put is also the widest it’s been in decades: People who kept at the same job reaped a median annual wage increase of 5.9% in July, a slightly smaller gain than workers reported the month before, the Fed data show.Â
The raises that job switchers are commanding demonstrate the leverage workers continue to wield despite signs the job market is cooling somewhat. Motivated to fill open positions, many employers are willing to pay a premium for new hires, recruiters and economists say. Nearly 4.2 million U.S. workers left jobs in July, near the record highs of the past year, Labor Department data show—suggesting many workers remain bullish about their prospects.Â
