Less Americans are quitting their jobs

Job-hopping, like clothing with oversized logos, is going out of style. Americans quit 39.6 million jobs in 2024, down 11% from the year before and 22% lower compared to a recent peak in 2022, according to government data released this week.

Hiring is down, too

One reason for this staying-put trend is the state of the job market, which has entered a cooldown stage following a hefty years-long workout.

• The share of workers hired into new jobs every month fell to an average of 3.5% last year, a decline from a recent peak of ~4.4% in 2021.
• There were 7.6 million job openings in December, down from 8.16 million the previous month. That’s compared to a high of 12.2 million in early 2022.

Hiring has slowed the most in white collar fields, including finance and tech, but is still strong in areas like healthcare and hospitality. And some overall good news: Layoff rates remain near historic lows, and the economy continues to add jobs.

👀 Looking ahead…We’ll get more data tomorrow, after the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its monthly jobs report for January + revised job creation stats for previous months.