It often pays to switch jobs, and now is one of the best times to do it.

Taking a new job is often the easiest way to get a raise because negotiating a higher salary is a natural part of the process.

The pay difference between those who stay and those who changed jobs is growing, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Job stayers, or people who stayed in their job for the past three months, increased their wages by about 4.7% as of June 2022. Meanwhile, those who switched jobs received a raise of 6.4%. The gap is the largest in two decades.

Sources: Current Population Survey, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Calculations.
The data are 12 month moving averages of monthly median wage growth for each category.
Wage computed on an hourly basis.
Data updates can be found at https://www.frbatlanta/chcs/wage-growth-tracker.