Turnover Rate Statistics: Complete Industry Analysis & Benchmarks

The employment landscape looks completely different from what it did just three years ago. Remember the Great Resignation? When everyone seemed to be quitting their jobs at once? Well, the dust has settled, and what we’re seeing now tells a more nuanced story.

Voluntary turnover rates have dropped from those pandemic peaks of 24.7% in 2022 down to 13.5% in 2025. But here’s the thing—this isn’t just about people staying put out of fear. The data reveals something more complex happening across different industries, age groups, and company sizes.

If you’re trying to figure out whether your turnover numbers are normal, or if you’re planning your workforce strategy for the next year, this analysis breaks down what’s actually happening in the job market right now.

Executive Statistical Summary: Key Numbers

Let’s start with the big picture. The average voluntary turnover rate in the U.S. has continued its downward trend, now sitting at 13.5%, according to Mercer’s latest workforce survey. That’s a significant change from the chaos we saw during the pandemic years.

But here’s where it gets interesting. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the national average employee turnover rate across all industries is 3.6% monthly—which sounds low until you realize that adds up to about 43% annually when you include both people who quit and people who get laid off or fired.

Meanwhile, companies’ employee turnover rate eased to 18% in 2024 according to corporate surveys. The difference? Government statistics capture everything, while company surveys often focus on the turnover that really matters to them.

The numbers that matter most:

National voluntary turnover average: 13.5%
Total separation rate (monthly): 3.6%
Cost per departure: 33% to 200% of annual salary
Preventable turnover: 75% of voluntary departures

The year-over-year analysis shows a 22% decrease from 2023 levels. People are calling it the “Great Stay”—and economic uncertainty is definitely playing a role in keeping people where they are.

Industry-Specific Turnover Rates: Data Breakdown

Not all industries are created equal when it comes to keeping people around. Some sectors are still bleeding talent, while others have figured out how to keep their teams stable.

The Industries Still Struggling

Retail and Wholesale: 24.9%

No surprises here. Retail and wholesale industries have the highest turnover at 24.9%, and honestly, anyone who’s worked retail probably knows why. Long shifts in stressful public-facing work environments, often with minimal training—plus dealing with difficult customers daily. Not exactly a recipe for long-term satisfaction.

Professional Services: 20.5%

This one might surprise you. According to S&P Global, the consumer discretionary sector tops the charts for global turnover at 20.5%. We’re talking consulting, legal, and IT roles where everyone’s trying to poach each other’s talent. High skills, high demand, high turnover.

Healthcare: 18.4% (Nursing) / 13% (Physicians)

The healthcare numbers tell a story we all lived through. In 2024, registered nurse turnover hit 18.4%, and physician turnover reached 13%. When you consider that nearly half of all healthcare workers report burnout, these numbers start to make sense. Three years of pandemic stress don’t just disappear overnight.

The Middle Ground

Industry	Turnover Rate	What’s Driving It
Manufacturing	19.2%	Safety concerns, wage competition
Financial Services	19.8%	Regulatory pressure, competitive recruiting
Technology	12.9%	Layoffs, remote work shifts
Construction	22%	Project-based work, seasonal fluctuations

The Stable Ones

Government has the lowest quit rate among all sectors (0.8%). Makes sense—good benefits, job security, and pension plans still matter to a lot of people. The chemicals industry has one of the lowest turnover rates at 9.1%, probably because those specialized skills take years to develop and there aren’t that many places to use them.

Voluntary vs Involuntary Turnover Analysis

Here’s something most people don’t think about: there’s a big difference between someone choosing to leave and someone getting shown the door. Involuntary turnover rates are statistically much lower compared to voluntary turnover. The latter comes in at 13%, while the prior 6% in the U.S.

When People Choose to Leave

The reasons people quit haven’t changed much over the years:

Pay issues: 63% cite low compensation
Dead-end jobs: 66% lack advancement opportunities
Work-life balance: 45% want more flexibility
Bad bosses: 50% leave because of poor managers

Here’s the kicker: 42% of employees who voluntarily left their organization in the past year report that their manager or organization could have done something to prevent them. Translation? Most people don’t wake up one day and decide to quit. It builds up over time, and companies often miss the warning signs.

When Companies Make the Call

The average annual turnover rate is 30% in the United States, with average voluntary turnover at 23% and involuntary turnover at 11%. The involuntary stuff breaks down like this:

Performance problems: 40% of involuntary turnover
Economic layoffs: 35% of involuntary turnover
Restructuring: 25% of involuntary turnover

Tech companies have been particularly brutal here. Tech companies laid off more than 780 people per day in 2024. That’s not a typo. Per day.

Economic Impact Statistics and Cost Analysis

Let’s talk money. Every time someone leaves, it costs way more than most people realize. According to the 2023 Retention Report from Work Institute, the cost of every resignation remains at around 33% of the outgoing employee’s base salary. But that’s just the starting point.

What It Actually Costs by Role

Executives and Managers: Gallup estimates that the replacement of leaders and managers costs around 200% of their salary. Think about it—you’re not just replacing someone, you’re dealing with 4-6 months of hiring, then another 6-12 months of reduced productivity while the new person gets up to speed.
Professional and Technical Roles: The replacement of professionals in technical roles is 80% of their salary. These roles are tricky because the knowledge transfer can be complex, and finding someone with the right skills takes time.
Frontline Workers: Frontline employees cost 40% of their salary to replace. Lower percentage, but when you have high volume turnover, it adds up fast.

Industry-Specific Pain Points

Manufacturing feels this especially hard. Replacing a single skilled frontline worker can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $40,000. With an average monthly quit rate of 1.6% in manufacturing, those costs pile up quickly.

The big picture? U.S. companies spent nearly $900 billion to replace employees who quit in 2023. That’s not just hiring costs—it’s training, lost productivity, overtime for remaining staff, and the ripple effects that happen when teams get disrupted. More than one in five companies say turnover costs them $100,000 or more per year.

Demographic and Geographic Turnover Patterns

Age matters. A lot. Different generations approach work—and leaving work—in completely different ways.

The Generational Divide

Gen Z and Millennials: These groups are driving most of the job-hopping. Gen Z and Millennial employees are often seeking more flexibility in their day-to-day roles than traditional industries can offer. They’re not necessarily disloyal—they just have different expectations about what work should be like.

74 percent of Gen Z and Millennial employees were ready to quit for lack of development and skill-building opportunities. Career development isn’t a nice-to-have for them. It’s a requirement.

Gen X and Boomers: Plot twist: Baby Boomers now face the weakest retention outlook, experiencing the steepest decline in scores between Q3 and Q4 2024. A lot of this is retirement-driven, but some of it reflects changing priorities as people get closer to the end of their careers.

Size Matters Too

Small and midsized businesses have a turnover rate of 12.0%—significantly higher than the overall average rate of 10.6%. Meanwhile, enterprises boast a lower turnover rate of 9.9%.

Why? Resources. Bigger companies can usually offer better benefits, clearer career paths, and more internal mobility options. Smaller companies often struggle to compete on pure compensation but can sometimes win on culture and flexibility.

Trend Analysis and Future Projections

So what’s coming next? The data suggests we’re in a period of stabilization, but it’s fragile.

The Great Stay is Real

The newer environment features “historically low hires and separations”. Even though inflation moderated in 2024 and a recession was avoided, “both hirings and separations decreased, in what is being called the Great Stay”.

People aren’t jumping ship as much, but that doesn’t mean they’re happy. It often means they’re being cautious. Economic uncertainty has a way of making people stick with what they know, even if it’s not perfect.

Economic Factors Still Rule

Quits are closely linked to job availability. Both the quit rate and the number of available jobs are consistent with fluctuations in the economic cycle. When the economy is uncertain, people hunker down. When it’s booming, they get more adventurous.

The U.S. unemployment rate has remained in a narrow range of 3.7% to 3.9% since August 2023, which is historically low. But people are still nervous about what’s coming next.

Remote Work Changed Everything

One trend that’s not going away: flexibility expectations. 85% of financial services employees prefer the option to work virtually two to three days per week. Companies that try to force everyone back to the office full-time are going to struggle with retention.

High-Impact Turnover Drivers: Statistical Evidence

Let’s get specific about why people actually leave. The top reason employees cite quitting, at 54 percent of respondents, is due to not feeling valued at their organization. Not money. Not benefits. Feeling valued.

Money Still Matters (But It’s Not Everything)

Don’t get me wrong—compensation is huge. 56 percent of employees would leave a job for higher pay, and 41 percent also would leave for just a five percent increase. That five percent thing? That’s telling. It suggests people aren’t always looking for massive raises—sometimes they just want to feel like they’re being paid fairly.

43 percent of employees leave their job due to poor benefits. Healthcare costs keep going up, and people notice when their benefits don’t keep pace.

The companies that get this right see real results. Companies highly rated on compensation and benefits see 56 percent lower attrition.

The Manager Problem

This one’s big. 82 percent of employees would quit due to a bad manager. And here’s the thing—managers account for 70 percent of variance in team engagement. Your front-line managers aren’t just supervising work. They’re basically determining whether people stay or go.

Employees are twice as likely to be disengaged when ignored by managers. It’s not always about micromanaging or being mean. Sometimes it’s just about not paying attention.

The fix? Companies that implemented regular employee feedback saw 14.9 percent lower turnover rates. But here’s what’s crazy: 45% of voluntary leavers report that neither a manager nor another leader proactively discussed their job satisfaction, performance or future with the organization in the three months before leaving.

Translation: Most people don’t just disappear. They give signals. Managers just aren’t catching them.

Career Development is Non-Negotiable

88 percent of job seekers want career development prioritized. This isn’t about entitlement—it’s about survival in a changing economy. People know they need to keep learning and growing, and they want to do it somewhere that invests in them.

Internal mobility increases likelihood of staying at a company by 19 percent. Sometimes the solution to retention isn’t keeping people in the same role—it’s helping them find a new role within your organization.

Recognition Gaps

Organizations that implement formal recognition programs have 31 percent less voluntary turnover. But here’s the sobering stat: 79 percent of employees who quit claimed a lack of appreciation from their employer was a major reason for leaving.

Recognition doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated. Sometimes it’s just about acknowledging good work when you see it.

Key Takeaways and Strategic Recommendations

Here’s the bottom line: Around 75% of voluntary employee turnover is preventable. That means most of the people walking out your door right now didn’t have to leave. They chose to because something wasn’t working.

Start here:

Audit your compensation regularly. Not just salaries—benefits, too. If you’re not competitive, you’re going to lose people to companies that are.
Train your managers. Not just on processes, but on having real conversations with their teams about career goals, satisfaction, and concerns.
Create feedback loops. Don’t wait for annual reviews. Check in regularly, and actually listen to what people tell you.
Map out career paths. People want to know there’s somewhere to go. Show them what’s possible.

Think bigger picture:

Benchmark against your industry, not just your local market. Talent is more mobile than ever.
Use data to predict problems before they become resignations. Look for patterns in engagement scores, time since last promotion, or manager relationships.
Invest in culture change if you need to. Sometimes the problem isn’t individual managers or policies—it’s how the whole organization operates.
Get serious about flexibility. Remote and hybrid work aren’t going away. Figure out how to make them work for your business.

Measure what matters:

Track your turnover monthly, not annually. Break it down by department, manager, and demographic groups. Calculate the real costs, including the hidden ones like overtime and lost productivity.

57% of CEOs rank retaining and engaging employees as a top business priority. If your CEO isn’t in that group yet, show them these numbers. Turnover isn’t just an HR problem—it’s a business strategy issue.

The data is clear: people leave when they don’t feel valued, supported, or challenged. Companies that address these fundamentals—not with grand gestures, but with consistent, thoughtful practices—will keep their best people while their competitors wonder where everyone went.

Sources:

https://www.inspirus.com/blog/employee-turnover-statistics/
https://www.corporatenavigators.com/articles/recruiting-trends/average-turnover-rate-by-industry-in-2024/
https://www.cfo.com/news/companies-employee-turner-rate-eased-to-18-in-2024/743093/
https://www.achievers.com/blog/employee-turnover-by-industry/
https://www.selectsoftwarereviews.com/blog/employee-retention-statistics
https://www.workhuman.com/blog/turnover-vs-attrition/
https://www.gallup.com/workplace/646538/employee-turnover-preventable-often-ignored.aspx
https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/employee-relations/attrition-definition-types-causes-mitigation-tips
https://hubstaff.com/blog/employee-turnover-statistics/
https://www.rewardgateway.com/blog/employee-turnover-rates-by-industry
https://www.achievers.com/blog/employee-turnover-by-industry/
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https://builtin.com/recruiting/employee-turnover-statistics