Nearly half (46 percent) of professionals are considering quitting their jobs in the year ahead, according to a recent survey by Microsoft and LinkedIn, CNBC Make It reported.
The 46 percent figure is higher than the 40 percent who said the same ahead of the "great resignation" during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, at the height of the great resignation, a record 4.5 million workers each month, about 3 percent of the U.S. workforce, quit their jobs.
Microsoft and LinkedIn surveyed more than 30,000 people in 31 countries between February and March 2024 to determine the results. A February 2024 ZipRecruiter survey of more than 2,000 jobseekers revealed that Americans’ confidence in their job-hunting prospects has reached its highest point in two years.
This renewed sense of optimism is bolstered by the fact that the U.S. economy avoided the recession that was forecast for 2023, ZipRecruiter chief economist Julia Pollak told CNBC Make It.
Inflation is a major consideration for those seeking new roles. Forty-five percent of workers planning to switch jobs this year say they need a higher income, according to Monster’s 2024 Work Watch Report. Job switchers tend to increase their salaries more quickly than those who stay put, data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta indicate, while the median year-over-year pay increase for job switchers was 10 percent in March, up from 2.9 percent six months earlier, according to data from ADP.
With salaries finally keeping up with inflation, the return on investment of switching jobs feels “much higher” than it did six months ago, Pollak told CNBC. She added that more people could be planning to quit their jobs in 2024 because they’re not satisfied with the jobs they took during the great resignation.
About 80 percent of those who quit their jobs during the great resignation regretted their decision to leave, a January 2023 survey of 825 employees by Paychex found. In particular, that group included Gen Zers, who miss working in an office environment, and Gen Xers, who miss the work-life balance from their previous jobs.
The number of job openings stood at 8.5 million in March, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.
“There are ... still a lot of high-paying opportunities out there,” said Pollak. “They just might not be where you want them to be.”