One million Australians changed employer or business in the year to February, a job mobility rate of 7.2 per cent, down from 7.7 per cent a year earlier. The Australian Bureau of Statistics released the figures on Friday morning. The Bureau describes the fall as a continuation of a long-run decline that runs back to the 1970s, with brief reversals during periods of economic disruption.
"Just over 1.0 million employed people (or 7.2 per cent) changed their employer or business in the year to February 2026, compared with 7.7 per cent over the previous year," the ABS head of labour statistics, Robert Long, said.
The fall is not being driven by people losing work. The annual retrenchment rate was 1.8 per cent, down from 1.9 per cent. The historical range runs from 1.3 per cent in February 2023 to 7.2 per cent in February 1991. Retrenchment sits near the bottom of that range, which means the workers who did not move did not move because they chose not to, or because nothing worth moving for was on offer.
Changing jobs is how most workers already in employment get a pay rise. A move to a new employer prices the work against the current market instead of against last year's number, and the difference between those two figures is where a large share of wage growth comes from. When fewer people move, fewer of those repricing events happen, and an employer facing no outside offer has no reason to match one.
Workers aged 15 to 24 changed jobs at 12.0 per cent. Those aged 45 to 64 moved at 4.6 per cent, and 1.2 per cent of workers over 65 changed employer. Women moved at 7.1 per cent, down 0.8 percentage points on the year. Men moved at 7.4 per cent, down 0.2.
Of the 2.1 million people who left or lost a job over the period, 24.6 per cent said they wanted a better job or a change. Retrenchment accounted for 12.5 per cent. Another 11.8 per cent left over pay or working arrangements, 9.9 per cent came to the end of a temporary or seasonal job, and 6.8 per cent left because of their own illness or injury.
The number lands next to the rest of the Bureau's recent set. The consumer price index rose 3.8 per cent in the year to June, published on 29 July. Unemployment was 4.4 per cent in June, published on 23 July. A tight labour market usually produces high mobility, because workers can move without much risk. This one is producing the opposite.
Job Mobility is an annual collection and the next reading covers the year to February 2027. Before then, the quarterly wage price index is where this shows up: it measures what the people who stayed were paid for staying.
