To stay or to go? That’s the perennial question for workers trying to maximize their pay in a “peanut-butter” raise economy. But in the era of job-hopping and freelancing, freedom can come with a cost.
For higher earners, loyalty is rewarded. The top 5% of earners who stayed with their employers received year-over-year pay hikes approaching double digits, while peers who switched jobs only saw a low-single-digit bump, according to a Bank of America study using internal deposit data.
All other workers—including lower-, middle-, and higher-earners excluding the top 5%—all got a higher after-tax wage increase if they switched.
Bank of America Institute
That’s if you get a raise at all. Bank of America’s data suggests about half of those who stayed in their job and 44% of those who switched jobs saw no pay increase, or in some cases saw a decrease in Q1 2026.
