At the Securities and Exchange Commission, the revolving door may be slowing.

The SEC has been routinely criticized as a training ground for money-hungry lawyers to gain expertise and show their willingness to be “financial services industry” friendly with little regulatory zeal and then go through the revolving door to high-paying jobs at companies and private law firms.

In 2013, the author of a report by the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) noted even low-level SEC employees who leave can be an asset to the regulated.

However, the share of workers leaving the agency annually has dropped off significantly to 4.0 percent in Fiscal 2016 from 5.7 percent in Fiscal 2015 following two years of albeit slower declines from 6.3 percent in 2014 and 6.5 percent in 2013.

Dennis Kelleher, president and CEO of the Dodd-Frank Act advocacy group Better Markets, said this decline in an election year doesn’t surprise him

“I’d assume that some would stay around to see what happens at the top of the agency as well as to see what other opportunities might open up as a result of the election, but that’s just a guess,” said Kelleher.

Former SEC Chair Harvey Pitt said one reason could be morale at the agency is high under current chair.

He noted while the improving job market since the recession has led to more job hopping by other professionals, there hasn’t be a similar upsurge for lawyers.

“In addition, there has been a considerable movement away from national law firms—the firms most likely to hire SEC talent—except in connection with “bet-the-farm” types of matters, which means greater reliance on less-costly regional law firm talent.  And, law firms' insistence, in many cases, on billable hours makes it harder to employ national firms,” said the past SEC Chair in an email.

In defending the agency against charges staffers tread lightly to impress potential future employers, SEC Chief of Staff Buddy Donahue said he has never seen it happen.

Donahue echoed the findings of a 2012 report by the American Accounting Association that being tough on businesses is actually good for the career prospects of SEC workers when they are ready to jump ship.

“Businesses are thinking we would rather have them on our side than beating us up,” said the SEC exec.