The U.S. now finds itself navigating a more risk-averse form of job market. With hiring stalled and employment prospects grim, workers are holding onto their positions tighter than ever despite a potential wish to leave.
The phenomenon known as “job hugging”—where employees cling to their roles out of necessity rather than desire—has been getting heightened attention in recent weeks. Experts say it serves as another signal of labor market weakness as well as prevalent financial challenges, and marks a significant shift away from the “job hopping” culture that defined post-COVID America.
“A few years ago, workers were quick to leave for sizable pay bumps,” Matt Bohn, senior client partner at the global consulting and talent management firm Korn Ferry, told Newsweek. “Now, with paychecks stretched by rising costs, many are clinging to stability even if they’re dissatisfied.”
“That instinct makes sense, but it has consequences: With fewer people chasing new opportunities, wage growth slows, and innovation can stall.”
What Is Different About Today’s Job Market?
An August survey of more than 2,200 U.S. workers by ResumeBuilder.com found that 46 percent fit the profile of “job huggers”—staying put due to the risks of leaving. Among this group, 95 percent cited concerns about the job market as the principal reason for their reluctance.
According to the most recent “Employee Retention Index” from Eagle Hill, most American workers intend to remain in their current jobs for the next six months. The consultancy also found that worker optimism sank in the second quarter of 2025, the Job Opportunity Indicator recording its steepest ever decline to hit its lowest level since tracking began in 2023. Korn Ferry interpreted this as a sign that workers are “holding on for dear life,” and consider the contemporary U.S. job market “treacherous.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Labor has found that quit rates continue to hover near their lowest levels since the height of the pandemic, and well below the levels seen during the 2021–2022 surge
Known variously as the “Big Quit,” “Great Reshuffle” or the “Great Resignation”—a term coined by Anthony Klotz, professor of Organizational Behavior at UCL School of Management in London—this latter period saw great numbers of employees leave the workforce, after lockdowns and wage stagnation prompted many to reevaluate their lives and career trajectories.
Speaking to Newsweek, Klotz said that, while little “robust evidence” of job hugging as a major phenomenon has yet emerged, the trend makes sense amid a slackening of labor market conditions.
“It completely stands to reason that as the job market slows, and layoffs continue to make headlines, partly fueled by the potential for AI/robots to do parts or all of some jobs, we would squeeze our jobs even more tightly than normal,” he said.
As Klotz notes, bleak employment prospects may be sapping employees’ ability or belief that they can “hop” on to greener pastures and prompting them to “hug” their current roles.
Low quitting rates have coincided with a surge in layoffs in 2025, and for the first time since April 2021, job openings are now lower than the total number of unemployed workers in the U.S.
“The labor market shifted from a candidate/employee driven ‘job hopping’ marketplace to an employer-driven market,” said Jennifer Schielke, co-founder and CEO of staffing and recruiting firm Summit Group Solutions. “There have been a storm of factors adding to the complexity of what we see—remote work, AI acceleration, tumultuous times in our nation.”
Schielke told Newsweek that layoffs in particular had dimmed the perception of a “bright future” waiting for employees outside of their current workplaces, but that the prevalence of job hugging could owe to ‘both culture and economic security.'”
“At a time of high economic insecurity, if we layer in a toxic culture, we are basically also welcoming in unhealthy behavior and creating a space where people become stagnant and drain the development they should be experiencing to position them well for future opportunities,” she said.
Several surveys have shown that workers are disengaged and “checking out” when on the clock. Gallup’s most recent employee engagement poll indicates that engagement has declined from its pre-COVID peak, and that many employees now “remain emotionally detached from their workplaces.”
These two trends—low enthusiasm and surging pessimism about other opportunities—have combined into the phenomenon of job hugging, according to Klotz.
“When there are lots of alternative jobs available, these disengaged employees are better able to switch jobs in search of more engaging work,” Klotz told Newsweek. “But when the job market is slow, these disengaged workers become what researchers call ‘reluctant stayers.'”
How Job Hugging Could Hurt Employees?
Beyond reflecting anxiety about one’s employment prospects, the revert to job hugging may be shaping the behavior of workers themselves and further undermining their chances in the increasingly unforgiving labor market.
“Emotionally, the weight of market factors, financial strain, and loss are all trying to take the driver’s seat,” Schielke said, adding that anxiously clinging to a job can be the first step on “an unintended road toward poor performance, disconnected engagement, and the potential to miss out a promotion or an external opportunity that passes by.”
“For employees, the cost is long-term stagnation,” said Kevin Fitzgerald, a managing director at HR and employee engagement platform Employment Hero. “If you’re not learning new skills or gaining different experiences, you’re limiting your career prospects. That’s especially damaging for younger workers, who need variety and challenges to build resilience. “
The involuntary nature of this kind of employment retention strategy can also be disastrous for workers’ well-being, according to Dr. Chloe Carmichael, a clinical psychologist known for her work in anxiety and stress management.
“Wanting stability in a good role is healthy; job hugging is different because it’s driven by fear and scarcity,” she told Newsweek. “Instead of a proactive choice, it becomes an anxious response to perceived risk, which can keep people locked in unsatisfying or even unhealthy environments.”
Klotz told Newsweek that job hugging could prove harmless or even beneficial to one’s career if their employers place a particular premium on loyalty. However, he said that this may also work to ingrain and expand the “toxic” elements of a job that may have pushed them to quit in the first place.
“Job hugging and fear of not finding another job potentially normalizes problems with existing positions,” sociologist Yasemin Besen-Cassino added. “A potential issue would be not reporting issues in the workplace such as harassment, sexual harassment, pay inequity etc. out of fear. It might also allow workplaces to justify poor work conditions.”
These is on top of the threats posed to businesses themselves who have a growing number of captive employees on their payroll.
“At first glance, job hugging looks positive for retention,” Fitzgerald told Newsweek. “But when employees cling to jobs they don’t enjoy—or feel stuck rather than energized—that’s toxic for businesses, especially small ones where every role matters.”
If the post-COVID “Great Resignation” was a declaration of independence by America’s employees, 2025’s “Great Stay” appears a tacit acknowledgment that the pressures of a soft labor market and looming economic downturn can trump one’s desire to explore new opportunities.
Source – https://www.newsweek.com/america-entered-new-job-hugging-market-2128891