Want A Raise? Quit Your Job

More workers are saying “I quit”. And more are realizing — and proving — that quitting might be the key to a salary hike when America hasn’t had a pay raise in 35 years.

Best of all, CNN Money reported today, all workers stand to benefit from the trend:

Even if you aren’t ready to leave a job yourself, the fact that more people are voluntarily quitting serves as a wake-up call to employers.

When the quit rate starts to rise, wage growth tends to follow.

It makes sense: If companies are losing talented employees to competitors who are willing to pay more, they will be forced to increase salaries of current workers. That would be a very positive development for the economy.

Between January 2014 and January 2015, the quit rate increased almost 18 percent, from 1.7 percent to 2 percent, according to the latest data available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Engineer Ben Baxter is among the quitters who contributed to that increase.

The 28-year-old has left six jobs since February 2013 and now makes 31 percent more money than he did in 2011.

“I tend to change jobs about every six to twelve months. It’s the best way to increase salary,” he told CNN. “Always have an out in your back pocket.”

There are other advantages to quitting too, according to Alexander Kjerulf. The author of The Chief Happiness Officer blog and founder of Woohoo Inc., which coaches companies on employee satisfaction, started the International Quit Your Crappy Job Day website. (The “holiday” was March 31).

“I keep getting stories from people who have quit and who have not only gotten out of stressful, miserable jobs but gone on to bigger and better things,” Kjerulf told Money Talks News. “If [people] wake up most mornings dreading work, or if they spend much of their free time stressing about work, then it’s definitely time to go.”

Have you quit a job recently? Are you considering it? Let us know what you think about this trend by commenting below or on our Facebook page.