The Era of Salary Hikes via Job-Hopping Ends: 2026 Employment Data

A New Era in the Labor Market The job-switching strategy, which was one of the most common methods used by employees to rapidly increase their income during the pandemic period, has largely lost its impact as of 2026.
Sharp Declines Across Sectors The landscape has completely reversed in sectors such as information technology, entertainment, and hospitality, where demand was once high and employee bargaining power was at its peak.
Areas where changing jobs still provides a significant financial gain remain limited to restricted niche sectors where the supply of qualified labor cannot meet demand.
In contrast, the additional gain brought by changing jobs in broad employment areas such as services, education, health, and transportation has become marginal, falling to levels around 1%.
In addition to this stagnation in the employment market, a significant decrease in the total working hours of employees has also been observed.
This situation indicates that companies are focusing on maintaining their current staff but avoiding new cost increases.
Experts predict that this stagnation in the labor market will reshape employees' career planning and companies' human resources strategies.