The top 15 jobs people most want to quit—No. 1 pays $144,000 a year

Masses of highly paid tech workers say they plan to quit their jobs, and health care workers aren’t far behind.

Workers in the two fields dominate Payscale’s latest list of the top roles employees said they were planning to leave within 6 months, based on employee-reported data from more than 770,000 U.S. workers between November 2022 and October 2023.  

Even six-figure salaries aren’t enough to keep some workers in their roles. A majority, 66%, of senior product managers said they planned to find a new job in the last year, despite the fact that they commanded a $144,000 median annual salary.

Here are the top 15 jobs people are planning to quit:

1. Senior product manager: 66% seeking a new job; $144,000 median pay
2. Phlebotomist: 62% seeking a new job; $39,300 median pay
3. Line cook: 62% seeking a new job; $32,200 median pay
4. Patient care technician: 61% seeking a new job; $37,700
5. Emergency room registered nurse: 60% seeking a new job; $79,100 median pay
6. Patient services representative: 59% seeking a new job; $39,600 median pay
7. Cyber security analyst: 59% seeking a new job; $82,900 median pay
8. Welder, cutter, solderer or brazer: 58% seeking a new job; $48,400 median pay
9. Forklift operator: 58% seeking a new job; $39,800 median pay
10. IT program manager: 58% seeking a new job; $132,000 median pay
11. Critical care registered nurse: 58% seeking a new job; $80,700 median pay
12. Retail sales associate: 58% seeking a new job; $30,700 median pay
13. Software development engineer: 58% seeking a new job; $86,800
14. Senior data analyst: 58% seeking a new job; $97,100
15. Patient care coordinator: 58% seeking a new job; $46,300

Many workers say they’re quitting thanks to a combination of a shaky economy, return-to-office mandates and stressful work environments, says Lexi Clarke, Payscale’s chief people officer.

Senior product managers, in particular, may have been spooked by high-profile layoffs in the tech industry and made plans to find more job security elsewhere, Clarke says.

These senior leaders may have had to work with limited resources during layoffs at their own companies. Downsizing efforts “impact employees that stick around,” Clarke tells CNBC Make It. “It can impact their day-to-day, their workload, and can lead to more fatigue.”

That’s especially true in the health-care sector, which is notorious for high rates of burnout and turnover due to a stressful work environment. To address systemic problems, “the first place the health-care industry can focus is making sure they have the right amount of people for those roles,” Clarke says. “Ensuring they’re paying roles fairly is another big part of it.”

Workers may plan to leverage salary transparency data, which is now required in some states, to find better-paying jobs somewhere else. Average wage growth was up 5.4% year over year as of October, according to Payscale, and employees tend to score much bigger pay bumps when they join a new company.

Quitting may continue to slow in the new year, though a lot rides on the state of the economy, Clarke says.

Employers are budgeting for 3.8% raises on average next year, according to Payscale data. Other data show the gap between wage growth and inflation is narrowing, but it could take until the end of 2024 to finally close.

“The pressure of managing wages through an uncertain economy and inflation is a realty and could contribute to quitting,” Clarke says.

Want to be smarter and more successful with your money, work & life? Sign up for our new newsletter!

Get CNBC’s free Warren Buffett Guide to Investing, which distills the billionaire’s No. 1 best piece of advice for regular investors, do’s and don’ts, and three key investing principles into a clear and simple guidebook.

Check out: 68-year-old engineer who’s spent 50 years at one company regrets this mid-career mistake: It ‘never’ works out