Recent shifts in the labor market have prompted more workers to change jobs in pursuit of better pay and conditions. Considering this, the latest CommercialSearch study examines how these patterns vary across labor markets nationwide.
This analysis draws on detailed U.S. Census data to examine job switches (job-to-job flows) across cities. It offers insights into net gains across these workplace transitions, inbound and outbound workforce movements, and patterns across age groups and industries to better understand the changing landscape of the labor market in the post-pandemic era.
General Key findings:
In recent years, job switching has grown significantly in the U.S., increasing from 25 million at the start of the decade to 33 million in 2022 and 30 million in 2023. Women are also increasingly likely to be among those seeking new opportunities, with their share of job-to-job flows rising from 46% to 49% — a shift partly tied to their disproportionate exit from the workforce during the early stages of the pandemic and the ensuing recovery. Regionally, the South recorded the largest net gains, led by Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Atlanta. Meanwhile, coastal hubs like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Miami, along with Chicago, saw the most significant net losses.
Local Trends to Note in Atlanta:
- Atlanta ranked fifth among the cities in our analysis, with 211,396 workers relocating to the metro area in 2023 to start a new job. Men represented approximately 51% of these incoming job seekers.
- The metro also recorded the seventh-highest share of internal job-to-job flows, with 70.5% of workers changing jobs without leaving the Atlanta area. This translated to just over 493,000 local job transitions out of nearly 700,000 total job-to-job movements.
- Additionally, Atlanta posted the tenth-highest net job-to-job flow nationwide at the end of 2023, gaining more than 5,000 new workers — many of whom relocated from small, non-metropolitan areas across Georgia (17.3%) in search of new employment opportunities.
