Expert cites a 'confluence of factors' influencing low job mobility
Australian workers are increasingly staying in their jobs but not necessarily by choice, according to a management expert, who is urging organisations to rethink how they engage with staff amid a sharp decline in job mobility.
New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows the national job mobility rate fell to 7.7% for the year ending February 2025, down from eight per cent the previous year.
Only 1.1 million people changed jobs during the period, a figure that RMIT University Senior Lecturer in Management and Leadership Andrew Dhaenens says reflects various pressures rather than workplace satisfaction.
"There is a confluence of factors recreating this classic case of reluctant stayers," Dhaenens said in a statement.
Job mobility decline
The decline was broad-based, with job mobility falling in most states and territories.
New South Wales recorded one of the largest drops, down 0.8 percentage points to 6.8%, while Tasmania fell a full percentage point to 7.7%, according to the ABS.
Younger workers remained the most mobile, though even that cohort saw a decline, with the job mobility rate for those aged 15 to 24 falling to 11.5%, a notable shift in a group traditionally more willing to move between employers.
This low levels of job mobility is also expected to continue, with data from LinkedIn earlier this year revealing that just 51% of Australians plan to look for a new job, and another 81% said they don't feel ready for the job search.
Factors behind declining mobility
Dhaenens pins the current situation to a labour market rattled by AI-driven displacement fears, a job search environment flooded with AI-generated applications, and cost-of-living pressures that make lateral moves increasingly difficult.
He argued that these forces are doing more than just keeping workers in place, but they are reshaping how people think about work altogether.
"These external factors are not just limiting job mobility but changing how people think about their work," Dhaenens said.
The expert pointed out that a likely root of the problem is a growing crisis of identity and trust.
"A lot of anxiety is born from identity threats, where people feel uncertain about their role, value or future at work, and an overall lack of trust in leadership to look out for them," he said.
But the management expert noted that the anxiety may have deeper roots in how organisations are being led.
"People are likely to direct that anxiety toward[s] conversations around AI, when in many cases the real issues are in leadership, communication, and day-to-day workplace relationships," he said.
He noted that this is the opportunity for leaders to have "honest conversations" with employees on purpose and trust.
"Rethinking the old principle, I am a firm believer that 80 per cent of the stress comes from 20 per cent of the job. Most of these discomforts are fixable, but only if we have the conversations at work," he said.
