People are quitting their jobs in droves this year — and getting record-setting pay boosts because of it

pulse

July 6, 2018 8:43 PM

Job switchers are earning 48% higher annual pay increases in 2018 than those who stay in their jobs, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. The pay raise gap between job seekers and job stayers hasn't been this big since 2000.

Job switchers are earning 48% higher
than those who stay in their jobs, according to data from
The pay

From January to May 2018, Americans who switched jobs enjoyed 48% larger annual salary boosts than those who didn't move jobs, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Job switchers in 2018 have reported median pay increases by 4%, compared to median increase of 2% by the job stayers.

At a 1.3 percentage point difference, it's the largest gap between switchers and stayers seen since 2000, a Business Insider analysis of the Fed data found.

While a 4% boost may not seem significant, small pay increases over time can build up, as Business Insider's Lauren Lyons Cole reported last year.

Those in their 20s and 30s should be especially interested in securing income gains. A typical worker's salary steadily increases until their mid-30s, then plateaus until retirement, as Business Insider's Andy Kiersz found.

And quitters are also becoming more common. In May, more than one in seven jobless Americans were voluntarily unemployed, the Journal reported. That's the highest share of voluntary unemployment, or those who quit one position to seek another, America has seen in more than 17 years, wrote Journal reporters David Harrison and Eric Morath.

It's yet another sign of a good economy,

"A husband and wife can easily quit their jobs and both find good opportunities in jobs they want, where they want to live," Davis told the Journal.

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