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Employee Turnover Statistics 2026

Stealth Agents||11 min read
Employee Turnover Statistics 2026

Published May 13, 2026

Employee turnover statistics in 2026 tell two different stories depending on which data you look at.

Voluntary quits have dropped to their lowest monthly rate since 2015 — what researchers are calling "The Great Stay." Workers who might have left in 2022 are staying put, driven largely by AI anxiety and economic caution rather than improved job satisfaction. Meanwhile, involuntary layoffs, particularly in tech and professional services, are rising. The labor market has shifted; it just hasn't settled.

The cost side hasn't improved. Voluntary turnover still runs about $1 trillion annually in the U.S. in direct replacement costs alone. Total losses — counting productivity gaps, lost institutional knowledge, and morale drag — are estimated at $1.8 trillion.

Below are 30 sourced statistics on turnover rates by industry, replacement costs, reasons employees leave, remote work's impact on retention, generational differences, and retention ROI data.

Key takeaways

  • U.S. annual turnover is 57.3% overall; hospitality hits75.2%, tech runs13.2%
  • Voluntary quits dropped to 2.0% monthly in early 2026 — lowest since 2015 ("The Great Stay")
  • Replacement costs: 33% of salary for entry-level;200% of salary for C-suite
  • Total turnover costs U.S. businesses $1–1.8 trillion per year
  • Remote teams retain 94.2% of employees vs.81.6% for fully in-office
  • 75% of quit reasons come down to the manager, per Gallup

National turnover rates

1. The U.S. annual employee turnover rate is57.3% as of 2025. The BLS JOLTS March 2026 data shows a monthly quits rate of 2.0% (annualized ~24%) and total separations (quits + layoffs + other) at approximately 3.3% monthly. (BLS JOLTS March 2026; Zippia, 2026)

2. The ASE 2026 Employee Turnover Survey puts total voluntary turnover at17.6% in 2025, up from 16.0% in 2024. Hourly and non-exempt employees have the highest voluntary rates. (ASE, 2026)

3. Mercer's 2025 U.S. Workforce Turnover Survey reports voluntary turnover at13.5% nationally, with executives at 5.2% and para-professional/blue-collar roles at 12.5%. Different methodologies (contractor inclusion/exclusion) explain the gap with ASE and BLS figures. (Mercer, 2025)

Turnover by industry (2025)

Industry Annual Turnover Rate
Hospitality / food services 75.2%
Retail / wholesale 59.8%
Healthcare 32.7%
Manufacturing ~40%
Education & health services ~37%
Finance & insurance 18.6%
Technology 13.2%
Government ~18%

Sources: BambooHR (2025); Second Talent (2026); BLS (2021–2026)

4. Fast food exceeds150% annual turnover. 68% of hotels report active staffing shortages, with housekeeping vacancy rates reaching 42%. (BambooHR, 2025; Restroworks, 2025)

5. The tech sector's voluntary rate compressed to 13.2% in 2025 — well below the national average — after post-pandemic correction layoffs increased the available candidate pool. Involuntary separations in the Information sector rose to 2.4% monthly by early 2026, up from 1.3%. (BLS JOLTS March 2026)

The Great Stay

6. The monthly voluntary quit rate dropped below 2.0% in late 2024 for the first time since 2015 — a trend researchers call "The Great Stay" or "job hugging." Public company overall turnover dropped from 21.2% in 2023 to 15.9% in 2025. (WTW, 2025; Richmond Group USA, 2026)

7. 57% of workers identified as "job huggers" in a February 2026 ResumeBuilder survey, up from 45% just six months earlier. 70% cite AI's impact on job security as a primary reason for staying put — not job satisfaction. (Richmond Group USA, 2026)

8. The share of workers who actually quit in the past year fell to35.9% in 2025, down from 38.5% in 2024 and 43.3% in 2023. (iHire Talent Retention Report, 2025)

The important caveat: workers staying put because they're scared is not the same as workers staying because they're engaged. Gallup's disengagement data (70%) and the "job hugging" data can coexist — people stuck in jobs they'd leave if conditions were better is a different retention problem than people staying because they're committed.

Cost of turnover

9. Replacing an entry-to-mid-level employee costs an average of33% of their annual base salary. For a $50,000/year worker, that's over $16,500 in combined direct and indirect costs. (Gallup, via Applauz, 2026)

10. Replacement costs scale significantly with seniority:~80% of salary for technical/specialized roles, up to200% for C-suite executives. (Work Institute, 2025; Applauz, 2026)

11. Total replacement costs range from 50% (hourly/entry-level) to 400% of salary (highly specialized senior leadership), depending on role complexity. Hard costs — recruiting, onboarding, severance — account for only 30–40%; the remaining 60–70% are soft costs: lost productivity, morale, and institutional knowledge. (Applauz, 2026; Lano, 2025)

Estimated replacement cost by salary level (50–200% range)

Annual salary Estimated replacement cost
$30,000 $15,000 – $60,000
$50,000 $25,000 – $100,000
$75,000 $37,500 – $150,000
$100,000 $50,000 – $200,000
$150,000+ $75,000 – $300,000+

12. Voluntary turnover costs U.S. businesses**$1 trillion per year** in direct replacement costs. Counting all productivity losses, the total figure approaches**$1.8 trillion annually**. (Wellhub; Capital Analytics Associates, 2025)

13. Companies with high employee retention are22% more profitable than high-turnover competitors. Global voluntary turnover costs organizations an estimated**$2.9 trillion annually** in combined direct and indirect losses. (Paycor, 2026; Lano, 2025)

Why employees leave

14. Toxic or negative workplace culture is the**#1 reason employees leave**, cited by 32.4% of workers who departed in the past year — surpassing compensation. (iHire Talent Retention Report, 2025)

15. 75% of the reasons employees quit come down to their manager. Poor leadership and lack of manager support are the second and third most common stated reasons behind culture. (Gallup 2025 State of the Workforce Report)

16. Career stagnation drove63% of all preventable exits in 2024. 93% of employees say they're more likely to stay with an employer that invests in their career development. (Work Institute, 2025; Thirst.io, 2025)

17. 30% of new hires quit within their first 90 days; 18% within the first month; 15% within the first week. The exit decision is usually made in the first few weeks, not after months of accumulating grievances. (Zippia, 2026)

18. Only 12% of employees say their company does onboarding well. Poor onboarding is one of the clearest leading indicators of early turnover. (Gallup, 2017)

Time to fill

19. In 2025, filling an open position took an average of63.5 days — down from 67.7 days in 2024, but still nearly double the SHRM benchmark of 36 days. (Employ Inc., via HR Dive, 2025)

20. "Time to hire" (offer accepted to start date) averages 24–30 days in 2026; "time to fill" (requisition opened to role filled) averages 45 days across industries. Senior leadership: 60–90 days. Executive search: 90–120 days. (TSP; iSmartRecruit, 2026)

21. Industry variation is substantial: manufacturing fills in 30.7 days on average; financial services takes 44.7 days. Tech roles compressed in 2025 due to a larger available pool after sector layoffs. (Genius, 2025)

Remote work and retention

22. Fully remote teams retain94.2% of employees annually vs. 81.6% for fully in-office workers — a 12.6 percentage point difference. (Second Talent, 2026)

23. A Stanford study published in Nature found hybrid work arrangements produced a33% reduction in employee turnover with no measurable drop in productivity. (via Makerstations.io, 2026)

24. 57% of workers say they'd consider quitting if remote work were removed. 35% personally know someone who already quit due to a return-to-office policy. Companies with hybrid policies report 16% better retention vs. those requiring full-time in-office. (Vena, 2026; Gable, 2026)

Generational differences

25. Gen Z employees average1.1 years of tenure in the first five years of their careers, vs. 1.8 years for Millennials, 2.8 for Gen X, and 2.9 for Boomers. 1 in 3 Gen Z workers plans to switch jobs within 6 months, per 2025 TriNet data. (TriNet, 2025; iHire, 2025)

26. Despite the perception, job-hopping is not dramatically more common than it was a generation ago. Workers aged 25–34 in 2024 had a median tenure of 2.7 years — only slightly lower than Baby Boomers at the same age in 1983 (2.9 years). Economic conditions, not generational attitude, drive most of the variation. (NIRS research)

27. Work-life balance is the top job selection factor for both Millennials and Gen Z, ahead of salary. (Deloitte 2025 Gen Z and Millennial Survey)

AI's impact on turnover in 2026

28. Nearly55,000 job cuts were attributed to AI in 2025 out of a total 1.17 million layoffs — the highest since the 2020 pandemic peak. In January 2026 alone, roughly 7,624 layoffs (~7% of monthly announced cuts) were directly linked to AI adoption. (Challenger, Gray & Christmas, via High5Test; DemandSage, 2026)

29. 51% of American workers worry that AI will replace their jobs. Unemployment among 20–30-year-olds in AI-exposed occupations has risen nearly 3 percentage points since early 2025 — significantly more than for same-aged workers in non-AI-exposed roles. (National University; Richmond Group USA, 2026)

30. The World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025 projects AI and automation will displace 92 million jobs by 2030 while creating 170 million new roles — a net gain of 78 million. The short-term disruption is already influencing tenure behavior: workers in AI-exposed fields are staying in current roles out of caution rather than satisfaction. (WEF, via Nexford University, 2025)

What reduces turnover

31. Regular employee recognition improves loyalty for 80% of employees. Flexible work arrangements increase retention by 25%. Points-based recognition programs deliver a 3:1 ROI when measuring turnover prevention. 76% of retention investments show positive ROI within 12 months. (Paycor, 2026; HR Cloud, 2026)

32. Companies investing in career development programs see 93% higher likelihood of employees staying. Mentorship programs specifically improve retention by 38%. Organizations with comprehensive retention strategies achieve 87% higher retention and 67% lower recruitment costs. (Thirst.io, 2025; HR.com, 2026)

High turnover often has an obvious cause: the manager. Gallup's finding that 75% of quit reasons trace back to management is worth treating as an infrastructure problem rather than an HR problem. Changing the managers (through training, selection, or removal) reduces attrition more durably than perks or flexible scheduling.

For admin and support roles specifically — the highest-churn category outside food service — outsourced staffing removes the turnover cycle and replacement cost entirely.

Methodology

Statistics were drawn from: BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS, March 2026), ASE 2026 Employee Turnover Survey, Mercer 2025 U.S. Workforce Turnover Survey, BambooHR Turnover Benchmarks (2025), iHire Talent Retention Report (2025), WTW "Great Stay" analysis (2025), Gallup 2025 State of the Workforce, Deloitte 2025 Gen Z and Millennial Survey, TriNet Gen Z Turnover Trends (2025), Stanford hybrid work study (via Makerstations.io), NIRS job-hopping research, Challenger Gray & Christmas layoff data, WEF Future of Jobs Report (2025), and aggregated secondary sources including Second Talent, Applauz, Work Institute, Paycor, Lano, Thirst.io, Zippia, and Vena. Statistics were collected in April–May 2026.

Sources

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