The lowest compensation that job searchers are willing to accept for a new position increased to the highest in data back to 2014, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The regional Fed bank’s survey found that individuals now require, on average, more than $81,800 to change jobs. In March 2021, just as inflationary pressures started to mount, workers were willing to switch jobs for about $10,000 less.
The increase was most pronounced for men, younger workers and higher-income workers. Amid a higher cost of living, the so-called reservation wage for men was $95,500 in March. That’s $29,200 higher than women. Four years ago, just as the pandemic hit the US labor market, the split between men and women was $21,700.
The survey results also showed a notable shift in the employment status for those employed four months earlier. The share of those individuals who said they were unemployed rose to the highest since July 2020, while the share of respondents saying they were with a new employer fell to the lowest since the survey was started a decade ago.
Slightly more than 25% of individuals said they had been looking for a job in the past four weeks, the highest in a decade and up from 23.1% in November.
Furthermore, many workers anticipate leaving the labor market earlier. A record-low 45.8% share of workers say they expect to work beyond age 62, while fewer than a third expected to work past age 67.
The New York Fed’s Survey of Consumer Expectations is conducted every four months.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.