Just a few years ago, American workers were job-hopping like crazy, moving from one company to the next, eschewing loyalty in favor of bigger offers. The job market was conducive to shifting jobs on a dime. However, according to Fast Company, by 2025, people will be clinging to their careers like a child hugs a teddy bear. There’s even a cutesy little name for it: job hugging.
According to a report by Korn Ferry, an organizational consultancy firm, job hugging is the act of holding onto your current job for dear life because the alternative is staring into the void of unemployment for weeks or, maybe more realistically at this rate, months.
The economy is teetering on the edge between not good and disastrous. There’s almost no job growth, and if AI isn’t swallowing your career whole, then it’s chewing away at portions of your job description like a termite.
This isn’t precisely the economic environment conducive to jumping ship on a whim. It’s the kind where you latch on to the nearest flotation device and you grip it with all of your might for as long as you can.
Welcome to the Age of ‘Job Hugging,’ Where No One Wants to Quit Their Crappy Job
The numbers back this up. According to Fast Company, Eagle Hill Consulting reports that most employees plan to stay in their current roles for at least the next six months. Gen Z is leading the way, and they’re not doing it out of loyalty to their bosses and businesses. They couldn’t care less about that stuff. They’re holding on for dear life out of a sense of your survival.
Job optimism is at its lowest level since record-keeping began, and for good reason. As a report from DC-based employment firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas found, we’re just now entering the tail end of 2025, and already there’s been 800,000 job losses. That’s the highest number of jobs lost since the pandemic in 2020.
On top of all that, the Bureau of Labor Statistics just lowered job creation numbers for May and June, while July only produced 73,000 jobs. Add in inflation, another round of Trump’s tariffs, and the looming threat of AI taking over everything that doesn’t require manual labor and empathy, and it’s clear why nobody’s even bothering to set up an interview with you.
Happy job hugging, everyone.
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