Two-Thirds of UK Job Switchers Leave Their Occupation Entirely, Indeed Analysis Finds

London, UK – 10th March 2026 – New analysis from Indeed reveals that around 2.4% of UK workers change jobs in an average month – and nearly two-thirds of those who do move into an entirely different occupation. The findings point to a sharp divide in the UK labour market between high-turnover entry-level roles, where workers rarely stay, and specialised professions, where occupational attachment is far stronger.

The research, based on the job histories recorded on Indeed CVs between 2022 and mid-2025, complements official ONS data showing that around 2.8 million people in the UK changed jobs over the past year, with approximately 1.2 million leaving their previous industry altogether. Indeed’s analysis adds occupational-level detail, tracking where talent comes from and where it goes.

Entry-level roles drive the highest churn

Turnover is highest in loading and stocking, where around 3.2% of workers move into a new job each month. Food preparation and service (3.2%) and hospitality and tourism (2.9%) show similarly elevated rates. These roles typically offer lower pay and are disproportionately filled by younger workers entering the labour market for the first time.

Crucially, workers who leave these roles rarely stay in the same occupation. In hospitality and tourism, 87% of job leavers exit the field altogether, compared with 82% in retail. These are stepping-stone roles rather than long-term career destinations – a pattern that leaves employers facing persistent recruitment pressures.

Specialised professions hold on to workers 

At the other end of the spectrum, occupations requiring significant education, training or specialist skills see far lower turnover. Beauty and wellness has the lowest monthly switching rate at 1.6%, followed by nursing at 1.7% and electrical engineering at 1.8%.

When workers in these fields do change jobs, they overwhelmingly stay within their profession. Dentistry is the occupation with the lowest overall exit rate, with only 37% of job switchers leaving the profession entirely. Software development (41%), personal care and home health (42%), driving (43%) and nursing (46%) also show strong attachment. Workers in these professions may move between employers in search of better pay or conditions, but they rarely abandon their career path.

The analysis shows that the roles with higher barriers to entry tend to be sectors workers stay in, merely moving employers to seek better career opportunities. This is likely due to the job security provided by significant time investment in gaining experience, qualifications and training. However, this means that employers in these sectors face a harder time hiring external talent, making training and development opportunities essential to filling vacancies.

Table titled “Jobs people are most and least likely to leave.” Dental is the occupation that workers are least likely to leave, with just 37% of job switching leaving the profession from 2022 to mid-2025.

Higher demand makes occupations ‘stickier’

Indeed’s analysis also finds a clear link between hiring demand and retention. Occupations with stronger demand – as measured by the Indeed Job Postings Index – tend to see a smaller share of workers leaving for other fields. When workers perceive good prospects and job security within their occupation, they are more likely to stay. Conversely, weaker demand and limited advancement opportunities act as push factors, increasing the likelihood that job switchers look elsewhere. 

This creates a twin challenge for the UK labour market. Employers in high-turnover sectors need to find ways to offer progression and stability if they want to retain staff. Meanwhile, employers in specialised, low-turnover professions face a narrower talent pool and must invest in training pipelines to fill vacancies.

Jack Kennedy, Senior Economist at Indeed, said:

“These figures highlight how uneven labour mobility is across the UK. In entry-level sectors such as hospitality and retail, high rates of exit mean employers face persistent churn and ongoing recruitment pressures. That can weigh on productivity and raise hiring costs, particularly where roles act as short-term stepping stones rather than long-term careers.

In contrast, occupations that require significant training or operate in high-demand areas such as healthcare and technology, tend to retain workers within the profession. While that stability can support continuity and skills accumulation, it also limits the flow of talent from other parts of the labour market. Over time, this can exacerbate shortages if training pipelines do not keep pace with demand.

Understanding labour market mobility is crucial for policymakers and employers to assess how quickly the labour market can adjust to economic shocks and structural change. This will be even more important as AI reshapes job tasks and skill requirements across sectors. The capacity for workers to move and retrain will play a central role in determining how smoothly the labour market adapts.”

Methodology

We identify job switches based on the start and end dates of work experiences communicated on individual resumes. We limit our analysis to profiles in which the job start and end dates include the year and the month, rather than only the year. We focus on the 2022 to mid-2025 post-pandemic period.

A job switch is any job start preceded by another work experience. We define the job switch rate as the ratio of the number of job experiences starting in month t that were preceded by other job experiences on the resume, divided by the total number of job experiences in the dataset that include month t. The occupation switch rate is calculated as the ratio of the number of job experiences starting in month t, with previous experience in a different occupation, divided by the total number of job experiences in the dataset that include month t.

The occupational exit rate among job switchers is calculated as the ratio of the number of experiences in category i, which are followed by a job experience in a different category during period t, divided by the total number of experiences in category i that precede a job experience in period t. The calculation is based on switches from one stable job to another (>6 months tenure in both jobs) to avoid capturing seasonal jobs or internships, with a maximum gap of 6 months in between.

If the occupational exit rates of job switchers appear high, there are a few important caveats to remember. First, since Indeed is a job matching platform, individuals in long-term, stable employment relationships who don’t actively search for jobs are less likely to be represented in our data. Second, resume-writing conventions may differ across occupations and job types, affecting how experiences are reported. For instance, self-employment and freelance work may be reported by summarizing multiple short-term engagements under a single, continuous role, only distinguishing a new experience if it represents a significant shift. Third, some occupational categories — such as management or administrative assistance — are more likely to attract talent from a broad range of occupations. This can inflate apparent switching rates into and out of those roles.