When loyalty is rewarded: Top earners who stay in their jobs get much larger pay increases than those who switch

To stay or to go? That’s the perennial question for workers trying to maximize their pay in a “peanut-butter” raise economy. But in the era of job-hopping and freelancing, freedom can come with a cost. 

For higher earners, loyalty is rewarded. The top 5% of earners who stayed with their employers received year-over-year pay hikes approaching double digits, while peers who switched jobs only saw a low-single-digit bump, according to a Bank of America study using internal deposit data.

All other workers—including lower-, middle-, and higher-earners excluding the top 5%—all got a higher after-tax wage increase if they switched.

That’s if you get a raise at all. Bank of America’s data suggests about half of those........

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