Meet four-year-old Sam.

At this point, all he wanted to be was a DJ. He’d make mixtape CDs for his friends' birthdays, watch four straight hours of music videos on a Saturday morning, and dream of getting the school disco dance floor pumping.

I did turn that childhood aspiration into a real (casual) job, DJing throughout my uni years. Sure, it wasn’t quite a closing set at Coachella, but keeping the vibes up at 40ths, weddings, and corporate Christmas parties brought me a lot of joy (and paid the bills).

DJing was just one of the jobs I had before settling down with the love of my life, TDA. I’ve worked in social media, corporate law and retail. I’ve operated photo booths, tutored high school English and handed out contraception and lollipops for my local council (no joke). I’ve really switched things up over the years.

It’s a commonly held belief that young people change jobs at a frenetic pace. Let’s explore if that is true and what drives that behaviour.

Before we begin, a quick note: Today's newsletter is sponsored by LinkedIn, but they've not provided any input on the content I've written here, except for sharing some very helpful new research.

According to the latest job mobility figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in February 2024, 13% of workers aged 15-24 changed jobs in the 12 months preceding the release. That’s more than double the rate of older Australians.

Since the ABS began recording mobility data in the early 1990s, this pattern has remained consistent: younger workers are significantly more likely to change jobs than older workers, and this is not unique to any one generation.

Interestingly, that rate has actually fallen from a peak in February 1995, where that rate was 23%. That means if you’re currently aged between 45 and 54, you’re part of a generation that actually changed jobs more than young people today.

It’s not just a change of job - a 2025 LinkedIn global report found 67% of those aged 18-26 said they’re in the market for a new job this year. An Australian study by RMIT found 30% of workers under the age of 30 were considering a career change (not just a job shift) within the next 12 months. Young people are clearly on the move.

Whilst the trend isn’t new, the drivers of change have shifted significantly. Let’s start with what young people look for in a workplace.

According to one of the world’s most extensive annual youth surveys from global consultancy Deloitte, there is a ‘trifecta’ of factors that young Australians say will keep them in a job: money, meaning and well-being. When LinkedIn asked job seekers to rank these factors, 54% of 18-26 year olds said they want more money, while 36% said they’re seeking a better work-life balance.

The decline of real wages and continued inaccessibility of the housing market mean young people are using job mobility as a survival strategy for immediate relief, rather than a general intolerance for stability.

With over half citing the cost of living as their top worry, and 64% of Gen Z surveyed stating they live paycheck to paycheck, young people are likely to move in search of a higher salary. According to researchers, job switching results in an average pay increase of $7,500 for young workers.

However, at the same time, over 92% of young people prioritise “meaningful work”, choosing roles aligned with their values and rejecting potential employers if there’s a misalignment.

Young people are also less likely to stay in a job if it lacks purpose, with half reporting that they move on for this reason. Interestingly, only 7% of Gen Z said they aspire to gain a senior leadership position in their profession, instead prioritising work-life balance over climbing the career ladder.

It’s not just changes inside the minds of young Australians that are changing the way we work - it’s also the way the jobs market, economy and country are changing around them. 

The job market has changed

Experts believe that changes in the Australian labour market have made it fundamentally easier for young people to shift jobs, primarily due to the overall decline in full-time positions in the market and the rise of part-time, casual, and gig work. These jobs tend to be disproportionately filled by young people, who favour them due to their flexibility alongside study, and the absence of required qualifications or experience.

Whilst this part of the job market often presents young Australians with their first experience in the workforce, it can leave them vulnerable to economic downturns and contractions in the job market, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic.

More people are studying, for longer

Since the end of WWII, young Australians have increasingly chosen to go to university over vocational education (like TAFE) or apprenticeships. Not only does this mean that there are more young Australians in part-time or casual jobs (which are more tolerant of mobility), but it also means that young people are entering the full-time workforce later.

Returning to study, whether it's for a postgraduate degree or a complete switch of undergraduate qualification, is also more popular, which means more young people are entering and exiting different jobs.

Employers expect more

According to the Foundation for Young Australians, employers are increasingly demanding that job candidates demonstrate prior work experience, technical skills, and ‘enterprise skills’ (such as communication or problem-solving expertise). Without those skills, young people are often only qualified for lower-skilled service roles, which are traditionally more susceptible to job cuts or underemployment (when someone wants to work more than the hours available to them).

There’s no shortage of commentary on solutions for employers to reduce the number of young workers entering and exiting their workplaces, such as implementing flexibility initiatives, conducting regular pay reviews, and offering opportunities for further training and education.

The deeper structural challenges of the broader economy, the changing nature of work and technology and a re-evaluation of the importance of traditional career paths are more complex to change.

Young people change jobs - they always have. That means we spend a lot of time looking for new opportunities, and it’s not always easy. We partnered with LinkedIn on today’s newsletter to mark the launch of their AI-powered job search that lets you describe what you want in normal words. No more guessing if you're a "Growth Marketing Account Operations Analyst" or an "International Infrastructure Associate" (by the way, I made these job titles on this amazing website).

If you jump onto LinkedIn’s new AI-powered job search, you can type in "I want to help companies tell their story and work from home on Fridays" and it'll surface actual matches.

Check it out here. And if you want to find out what the people on the streets of Sydney wanted to be when they grew up, check out our latest Instagram reel here.