By coinnews 
00:00 Speaker A
According to the Atlanta Fed, the pay gap between employees who stay in their jobs and those who switch has decreased. In February, job switchers saw a 4.8% pay bump compared to 4.6% for people who stay in their jobs. If you look at this chart, you can see the lines getting closer and closer together. So what’s behind this narrowing gap? Here with more, we’ve got Yahoo Finance senior columnist, Kerry Hannon. Hey Kerry, what have we found?
00:34 Kerry Hannon
Hey Brad, great to be here. Um, I think it’s happening here from, from the economists and others I’ve spoken to about this is, you know, it’s no longer a great lure to ditch your job, uh, to go elsewhere, like it was coming out of the pandemic, you know? So there was that big gap that ballooned as, you know, the Great Resignation and employers were, there were such a crazy job market there where employers were just trying to get people into the offices. So or back to work, I should say, and working for them. But what happened there is they, you know, really ballooned the wages, right? So this was trying to lure people to come, there are big starting salaries and it was very exciting to make that jump. But what has happened is employers realized that many of them felt pretty burned. You know, people made that jump, but they didn’t really stay that long. They went for the big, the big bump in salary, but you know, and the companies forked out a lot of money for that, but the, the employees didn’t stay. So, you know, they, they left them again for another opportunity. So what companies that there’s been a mind shift. So instead of focusing on getting people in the door with these big flashy salaries, they’re going for the long game, trying to find policies and offering benefits that will keep people there longer to retain their workforce. So not as much focus on the big increase in salary, but actually giving benefits. Yes, there’s still bonuses, but they’re offering things, you know, focusing on the healthcare benefits and other benefits that really will keep a worker invested in that company and want to stay there. And also they had a lot of pushback from existing employees who are like, whoa, people are coming in at these big salaries and they’re getting so much more than me. And there was a lot of unhappiness in the workplace. So I think those are the big factors as we’re seeing a shift towards how workers, um, how employers are attracting new talent because they want them to stay. So it’s more than what that pay number you’re seeing.
03:55 Speaker A
Yeah, all really good context. Kerry, what do we know about people not only switching their jobs, but switching their careers or industry entirely?
04:08 Kerry Hannon
Yeah, that’s one of my favorite topics. So, you know, according to Zip Recruiter, recruiter, you know, say 30% of workers say they, they want to jump to a different industry to switch completely. Um, and in the reality, 50% of them in new, in new jobs actually went to new industries. So I mean, this is kind of exciting. And what again, this reflects back on those pay numbers is because often when you switch industries, you do take an initial pay cut. And this is a fact. Um, you will get back to where you were, but if you’re shifting completely, this is quite normal to take a step down initially because there’s so many more reasons than pay why you may be switching. You’re following a passion, you want a less toxic work environment, you want to work remotely. There’s all kinds of reasons to switch industries and really go off in a new target and coming out of the pandemic, a lot of people did that soul searching about, what is it that I really want to do? What turns me on? So I think this is an exciting area in the job market that doesn’t necessarily show up in the numbers as people shifting into new industries. And the key really there is, there are jobs being invented in industries we’ve never even thought about before. So LinkedIn has a great jobs on the rise that recently came out that may give you some ideas, but it’s about staying open to opportunities and continuing to add to your skill set. And really, you know, as, you know, Bono and you two says, don’t get stuck in a moment, you know, don’t try to replicate your old job. Go, go open it if you’re looking for something new, open it up. Open up your mindset and see what’s out there.