The survey, which polled 9,658 US employees between December 2021 and January 2022, found that 44% of workers are “job seekers”. Of this figure, 33% are active job seekers who looked for new roles in the fourth quarter of 2021. Meanwhile, 11% of this figure planned to seek out new roles in the first quarter of 2022. 

The Great Resignation has proven a significant issue for US employers since spring 2021 when the economy began to recover as the worst of the coronavirus pandemic passed and demand for workers grew. In January 2022, 4.3 million Americans quit or changed their jobs, while employers reported 11.3 million job openings for the month.  

“It is, by many measures, the tightest labour market ever,” said Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter. “Employers are having to play tug-of-war to get half an employee.”

“Flexibility and remote work are becoming more important [...] We’re already seeing that when asked to come back to the office, people are bolting to the exits in search of fully remote opportunities.”

Amid spiralling inflation, over half of  the workers surveyed cited pay as a top reason for seeking out a new job. The survey revealed that 41% of employees would leave their current position for a 5% pay increase.