Disobey Art/Getty ImagesThe share of Australian workers who change employers in a given year has decreased a lot. In fact, this rate has more than halved since the 1970s, according to official statistics. Why is this, and does it matter? We explored this in a recent paper. It turns out the decline is actually smaller and more recent than official statistics suggest. Demographic change explains the decline in the years before the global financial crisis in 2008. In particular, young workers change jobs much more often than older people and the workforce is getting older. However, there are several reasons for the more rapid decline since the financial crisis. Many of these are cause for concern. But it’s not all bad news. Why is job mobility important?There is no ideal rate of job switching. However, the share of people changing jobs is often seen as an indicator of how dynamic the economy is. The Productivity Commission has also been focused on ways to make the economy more dynamic.In a dynamic economy, productive firms emerge, innovate and compete strongly for workers, who follow new opportunities. Moving from one firm to another can have several effects. New workers bring new ideas, they tend to be better-suited for the firms they move to and they receive pay rises they wouldn’t have received otherwise. Job mobility is particularly beneficial for young workers beginning their careers.Recent trends in job switchingJust before the global financial crisis, about one in nine workers switched jobs in the previous 12 months. By 2019, this fell to about one in 12. Then came COVID. Many predicted large numbers of people would quit their jobs. Indeed, the share of people who changed jobs spiked in the years following the pandemic. There are many likely contributors to this. For example, COVID may have changed people’s priorities, including work-life balance expectations. But the structure of our economy also changed, and less productive firms were no longer propped up by COVID-related government support. Despite all this, the increase in job mobility was temporary. By 2025, job switching rates fell again, below the 2019 level, with only one in 13 workers now switching jobs. COVID and job satisfactionPart of this is good news. Job mobility is not always a good thing. Workers are much more likely to switch jobs if they don’t like the job they have. The long-running Household, Income and Labour Dynamics Survey (HILDA) shows that job satisfaction has increased considerably in recent years, and especially since COVID. On average, survey respondents now report higher satisfaction with most aspects of their jobs than they did before COVID. In particular, increases in “overall” job satisfaction and satisfaction with job security seem to have reduced job switching over the whole period. We estimate that rising job satisfaction reduced job mobility by almost one percentage point. This is substantial, but it’s not the main story. Younger workers in particular are changing jobs less often these days. Fly View Productions/Getty Images Younger workers are switching lessThe decline in job switching is largest among young workers. Using Australian Bureau of Statistics data, we show that the youngest (15 to 24-year-olds) switched jobs 43% less in 2025, compared to 2008. This is a sharp contrast to the oldest workers, whose switching rate increased slightly. Even more striking is that older male workers are changing jobs 21% more often now than they did in 2008.This is consistent with earlier research showing worsening labour market outcomes for younger workers. One driver of this was the delayed retirement of older workers. Similarly, there is evidence from the United States that when older workers retire later, younger workers change jobs less often. Given how beneficial job switching is for young workers, these results are concerning.More subtly, declining opportunities for younger workers also stifle entrepreneurship. Older workers tend to occupy key positions that are vital for developing the skills required for entrepreneurship. As the workforce ages, younger workers are less likely to hold such jobs, and they are less likely to become entrepreneurs. Since young people are the main drivers of innovation and entrepreneurialism, this further decreases the dynamism of the economy.Competitive labour marketBut the main determinant of job mobility is a dynamic labour market. There is evidence in the US that declining competition among companies is responsible for reducing job mobility. Lower rates of new businesses being formed and older firms closing down has also been documented in AustraliaAustralian evidence also shows that one in five workers may be bound by a non-compete clause, which can prevent them from changing jobs. This stifles healthy competition, and led to recent government changes to crack down on these clauses. Taken together, these factors point to an underlying issue that the Australian labour market is becoming less dynamic. It’s no coincidence lower rates of job switching coincide with declining competition and productivity. We should see a continued focus on job mobility as a key economic indicator, and especially as a measure of labour market opportunities for young people.The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.