In 2022, at the height of the "great resignation," a record 4.5 million workers each month — about 3% of the U.S. workforce — were quitting their jobs. 

While some economists have said this pandemic-era trend is over, new research from Microsoft and LinkedIn forecasts that even more people plan to leave their jobs in 2024. 

Nearly half (46%) of professionals say they're considering quitting in the year ahead — higher than the 40% who said the same ahead of 2021's great resignation, according to new research from Microsoft and LinkedIn, which surveyed more than 30,000 people in 31 countries between February and March 2024. 

In the U.S., LinkedIn has seen a 14% increase in job applications per opening since last fall, with 85% of workers saying they plan to look for a new role in 2024, a survey of 1,013 U.S. professionals conducted between November and December 2023 found. 

And Americans' confidence in their job-hunting prospects has reached its highest point in two years, a February 2024 ZipRecruiter survey of more than 2,000 jobseekers shows.

This renewed sense of optimism is aided by the fact that the U.S. economy avoided the recession forecast for 2023, ZipRecruiter chief economist Julia Pollak tells CNBC Make It. 

Despite high-profile job cuts at a few large companies, layoff rates, much like unemployment, are lower than before the Covid-19 pandemic. Job growth has been strong and stable since the start of 2024.

Americans are more confident about their career prospects — but dissatisfaction with continuing high inflation and their current roles could equally be driving them to seek new opportunities.

Inflation is pushing some workers to new jobs

It's not just better labor market conditions driving more U.S. workers to consider a career change in 2024. 

Inflation is still squeezing Americans' budgets; nearly half (45%) of workers planning to switch jobs this year say they need a higher income, according to Monster's 2024 Work Watch Report. 

Job switchers tend to increase their salaries more quickly than those who stay put, per data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. 

Changing jobs is coming with greater pay gains: New data from ADP shows the median year-over-year pay increase for job switchers was 10% in March, up from 2.9% six months prior.

With salaries finally keeping up with inflation, Pollak adds, the return on investment of switching jobs feels "much higher" than it did six months ago.

Real hourly earnings — wages after accounting for inflation — grew by 1.1% in February 2024 compared to a year earlier, CNBC reports.

Resigners' remorse

More people could be planning to quit their jobs in 2024 because they're not satisfied with the jobs they took during the great resignation, Pollak adds. 

Between 2020 and 2022, people fled industries like personal care services and fitness for jobs in transportation and technology that were hiring thousands of new employees and offering better pay. 

But those new jobs haven't always resulted in a lifestyle upgrade as many had hoped.

About 80% of those who quit their jobs during the great resignation regretted their decision to leave, particularly Gen Zers who miss working in an office environment and Gen Xers who miss the work-life balance from their previous jobs, a 2023 survey of 825 employees from HR and payroll solutions provider Paychex found. 

Workers might have lost some leverage since the heyday of the great resignation, but there are still plenty of opportunities for people who want a new and better job. 

The labor market posted 8.5 million openings in March, with health and private education, government, and leisure and hospitality fueling job gains. Pollak says she's seen "tremendous demand" for health-care and skilled trades workers. 

"There are parts of the still a lot of high-paying opportunities out there," she adds. "They just might not be where you want them to be." 

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