Desperate job seekers are abandoning the idea of a ‘dream job’—but an economist warns bosses about what could happen next
As companies slow hiring and job growth stalls, many Americans feel lucky just to have a job.
A new survey from ZipRecruiter Economic Research reports that many new hires are taking pay cuts and not negotiating compensation. While a majority say they would leave their roles for higher pay, opportunities to do so seem scarce.
About half of new hires (53%) — defined as people who have started their jobs within the previous six months — found their job within one month. Over a fourth (27%) of new hires took a pay cut, often after an extended period of unemployment, and only 56% increased their pay, down from 61% from last quarter. Benefits suffered too, with only 15% of new hires receiving a signing bonus last quarter, the lowest rate of 2025.
Only 30.4% of new hires negotiated their offers. Those who did negotiate got a better deal, often higher base pay, which may suggest that some job seekers are leaving money on the table.
“We’re seeing more decisions being made out of necessity,” said ZipRecruiter Labor Economist Nicole Bachaud. “What we’re seeing is that with the challenges of this market, how difficult it is to secure even that first offer. There has been a kind of pullback from workers feeling that they have the power to negotiate.”
The long term unemployment rate is up over 15% from a year ago in November, according to ZipRecruiter, and only 50,000 jobs were added to the economy in December. Last year, Amazon laid off 14,000 corporate employees, and Microsoft cut 15,000 jobs. Verizon, UPS, and Target also significantly reduced their workforces last year.
Those who did negotiate got a better deal, often higher base pay, which may suggest that some job seekers are leaving money on the table.
No waiting for a dream job
Workers are looking for stable employment and paychecks as long-term unemployment continues to rise, Bachaud said, which makes them less likely to wait for a dream job. In Q4, only 25.2% reported landing their dream job, down from 36.2% in the previous quarter.
Despite pay tradeoffs, the majority of new hires feel secure in their jobs, and over half have stopped actively searching for new positions after accepting an offer. More than a quarter intend to stay with their employers for five years or more.
Still, 60% of respondents said they would leave their current roles for a higher-paying job.
“That just speaks to what drove these new hires into these roles,” Bachaud said. “Employers need to be really focused on what is going to make workers leave if the market does change, and make sure that they’re staying ahead of that so that there’s not a mass exodus, or that they’re able to take advantage of movement from other companies and workers leaving their other positions when that time does come.”
A stressful workload and poor management are the two main drivers of new employees regretting their career moves and ultimately leaving their roles.
“Having a good work life balance and having good manager relationships are really, really important to workers right now, and businesses ought to be focusing on those pieces to make sure that their workers are happy and are planning to stay in place for the foreseeable future,” she said.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com