--- title: It Still Pays to Switch Jobs... Unless You're a Top 5% Earner description: Job switching still pays, but gains are shrinking—except for top earners, where loyalty now pays more. authors: - name: Pete Grieve role: Lead News Reporter url: https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/ bio: Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter. In his time at Money, Pete has covered everything from car buying to credit cards to the housing market. education: University of Chicago, BA Political Science at_money_since: 2022 articles: 598 covers: - Career Advice - Banking - Business - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://twitter.com/pete_grieve - https://linkedin.com/in/pete-grieve-b5aa02138 - https://www.facebook.com/petegrieve4 editors: - name: Katherine Peach role: Associate Editor url: https://money.com/author/katherine-peach/ bio: Katherine Peach is an associate editor with a focus on news and email at Money. She didn’t always intend to write about money. She’s a classically trained pianist who dreamed of becoming an archaeologist. However, in 2007 Katherine began working in financial publishing as an editor for Agora Inc. (Apparently, unearthing ideas about improving your personal finances isn’t such a bad career alternative!) Katherine’s writing and editing work has been featured in Investing Daily, Clever, Investor Junkie, The Palm Beach Letter, Truth & Plenty, Independence Monthly, NICHE, AmericanStyle, AntiqueWeek, Millennial Money, Money Done Right, TheStreet, Sure Dividend and many others. Katherine holds a Bachelor of Arts in Ancient Studies with concentrations in Archaeology and Ancient Languages and a minor in Literature from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. education: University of Maryland, Baltimore County at_money_since: 2025 articles: 14 covers: - Career Advice - Banking - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Federal Reserve Rate Cuts - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes published: '2026-05-27T12:30:22.000Z' section: Career Advice tags: - News word_count: 504 canonical: https://money.com/job-switching-wage-gains/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Two distinctively different jobs collage](https://img.money.com/2026/05/Money_switch_job.jpg) Switching jobs [no longer produces](https://money.com/shrinking-job-switch-pay-premium/) the double-digit percentage pay bump it did a few years ago, but workers who move are still typically better off than those who stay. The exception is the top 5% of earners, who often benefit more from staying put. According to a new [Bank of America report](https://institute.bankofamerica.com/content/dam/economic-insights/labor-market-update.pdf), workers who switched jobs in the first quarter of 2026 netted median wage increases of 8% year over year. That beats the 5% year-over-year wage increase observed in so-called "job stayers," although the gap between the two groups has narrowed to its smallest level in seven years. In 2026, employers are not under extreme pressure to offer higher wages to attract talent. Joe Wadford, an economist at Bank of America and the report's author, described it as a "low-hire, low-fire" environment. The lower rate of turnover means there's "less reason to pay a premium to job switchers," he wrote. Among top earners (the highest-paid 5%), the wage increase for job stayers was nearly 10%, while job switchers improved their wages by less than 2%, according to the report. "For this group, it appears that loyalty pays," Wadford wrote. That's flipped for all other income groups, with job switchers earning more than job stayers. ## Job switching can pay off, but it has become less guaranteed The typical pay bump for switching jobs can say a lot about the labor market. The best year to switch jobs in [recent history](https://money.com/switching-jobs-doesnt-pay-off-anymore/) was 2022, at the height of the pandemic-era labor shortage. Back then, job switchers secured 18% wage increases, while job stayers received 7% raises, according to the report. Often referred to as the [Great Resignation](https://money.com/record-high-workers-quitting-jobs/), the period from [2021 to 2023](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/economics/great-resignation-big-quit) saw workers jump ship for better opportunities as employers improved offers to fill their desired head counts and staff shifts. It's unclear if the trend of changing gigs for higher pay will make a comeback. According to Bank of America, job switching has inched up in the past year, with 13.5% of workers switching jobs in the first quarter of 2026, up from 12.9% a year ago. As far as age, young workers are benefitting most from changing companies. "Millennials who moved to another company saw after-tax wages grow twice as fast compared to those who stood still, while the rate of earnings growth increased fourfold for Gen Z," the report said. "Still, this rate has slowed some in the past four years alongside the broader labor market slowdown." In April, the unemployment rate was 4.3%, up from a record low 3.4% in January 2023. Consumer price index (CPI) data for April also revealed that [inflation is outpacing wage growth](https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/april-inflation-data-iran-war-rcna344586) for the first time in three years. Switching jobs isn't the "hack" for making more money that it once was. However, if the cost-of-living is chipping into your budget and your employer isn't rewarding your hard work, the latest data suggests that it could be worthwhile to [brush up your resume](https://money.com/free-resume-template/) and see what [opportunities](https://money.com/best-job-search-sites/) are out there in your area and field. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/job-switching-wage-gains/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Career Advice", "item": "https://money.com/career-advice/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Salaries and Wages", "item": "https://money.com/salaries-and-wages/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "It Still Pays to Switch Jobs... 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