‘Cautious, concerned and insecure’: Australians too scared to move jobs

Updated July 31, 2026 — 2:15pm,first published 2:03pmA new reason for the drop in Australians’ living standards may have been uncovered – workers are too frightened to risk taking on a new job.Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that the proportion of people moving jobs over the past year has fallen to its lowest level on record.About 1 million people shifted workplaces through the past 12 months, or 7.2 per cent of the workforce. That’s the lowest so-called “mobility rate” since figures were first collated during the days of black-and-white television.According to Asia-Pacific economist with job website Indeed, Callam Pickering, the figures suggest that the acute slowdown in productivity over recent years may be due to workers being “cautious, concerned and insecure”.“A lack of job mobility isn’t the only reason why Australian labour productivity is dreadful, but it’s surely a contributing factor,” he said.This week, Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock warned that without a lift in productivity, real wage growth would continue to stagnate.“With continued weak productivity growth, the economy can’t grow strongly without putting pressure on inflation. This is a fundamental challenge for the Australian economy over the next few years,” she explained to business economists.Job mobility most recently peaked in 2022 and 2023 as people were freed from COVID restrictions. During that period, the national jobless rate fell to 3.5 per cent.Unemployment is currently 4.4 per cent and a record number of people are in work, although there has been a slowdown in job creation over the past 12 months.According to the bureau, the proportion of people who left a job for a better position soared to one-in-three during the post-COVID period. But this year, it had slumped to less than 25 per cent.Measures of forced job movement, such as retrenchment, are relatively stable, suggesting business conditions are not a key factor in people making a career switch. Retirement, and ill health are also growing as reasons for job movement.The same figures show it is people in their prime working years – between 25 and 64 – who are reticent about leaving their job for another.Pickering said the low job mobility pointed to the mindset of a growing number of Australian workers.“Australian workers today are more conservative in their job choice and, perhaps surprisingly, more loyal to their employer than was common decades ago. It also suggests that the economy itself is less dynamic than it once was,” he said.“Australian workers are acting as though we are in a recession, reluctant to take risks even when it could lead to much higher pay or promotion.”The lack of movement, however, also means employers have more experienced staff on their books.Post-pandemic, more than 21 per cent of workers had been in their job for less than a year. That’s fallen to 16.4 per cent. Fifty-five per cent of people have worked with their current employer for between 1 and 10 years.Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.From our partners