Employee Turnover Rate by Industry (2026 Data)
Turnover ranges from 1.75% in government to 8.5% in hospitality. Full breakdown by industry with monthly and annual data sourced from BLS JOLTS.
Diego Cárdenas
Founder of Turnozo
You already know turnover is expensive. What you might not know is how your industry stacks up against everyone else.
A 30% annual turnover rate might feel terrible , until you learn the hospitality industry averages over 100%. Or it might feel fine , until you realize government agencies run at 21%.
Context changes everything. Here's the full breakdown.
Quick reference: turnover rates by industry
Employee Turnover Rate by Industry
Monthly and annualized total separations rates from BLS JOLTS (January 2026)
These are monthly total separations rates (quits + layoffs + discharges + other) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics JOLTS data, updated January 2026. Multiply by 12 for a rough annual estimate.
| Industry | Monthly Rate | Annual Estimate | Relative to Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leisure & hospitality | 8.5% | ~102% | 2.6x higher |
| Arts, entertainment & recreation | 6.5% | ~78% | 2.0x higher |
| Retail trade | 5.5% | ~66% | 1.7x higher |
| Construction | 5.0% | ~60% | 1.5x higher |
| Professional & business services | 4.75% | ~57% | 1.4x higher |
| Trade, transport & utilities | 4.25% | ~51% | 1.3x higher |
| Healthcare & social assistance | 3.75% | ~45% | 1.1x higher |
| National average (all industries) | 3.3% | ~39.6% | Baseline |
| Mining & logging | 3.25% | ~39% | Average |
| Private education & health | 3.25% | ~39% | Average |
| Technology (information) | 3.0% | ~36% | 0.9x |
| Manufacturing | 3.0% | ~36% | 0.9x |
| Finance & insurance | 2.25% | ~27% | 0.7x |
| Government | 1.75% | ~21% | 0.5x |
| Public education | 1.75% | ~21% | 0.5x |
A note on annual estimates: Multiplying monthly rates by 12 gives a rough approximation. The actual annual rate is slightly different because of compounding, but it's close enough for comparison purposes.
The big picture: what's driving these numbers
Three patterns stand out when you look at the data:
1. Schedule flexibility predicts turnover more than pay does. McKinsey found that 34% of workers who quit cited workplace flexibility as the primary reason , beating compensation (29%) and career growth (32%). Industries where employees have the least control over their schedules (hospitality, retail, healthcare) have the highest turnover.
2. Turnover is falling across the board. The total employer turnover rate dropped from 26% in 2022-2023 to 18% in 2024. Voluntary turnover specifically fell from 17.3% to 13.0%. The post-pandemic "Great Resignation" wave has clearly subsided, but we're still well above pre-2020 levels.
3. Blue-collar roles turn over 2.4x faster than executives. Mercer's 2025 data shows voluntary turnover at 12.5% for "para-professional/blue collar" roles versus 5.2% for executives. The higher up the org chart, the stickier the job.
Industry-by-industry breakdown
Leisure & hospitality: 8.5% monthly (102% annualized)
The worst by a wide margin. Hotels, restaurants, bars, and event venues collectively replace their entire workforce roughly once a year. The math is brutal:
- Entry-level positions dominate the workforce
- Seasonal demand creates hire-fire cycles
- Schedules change weekly with little predictability
- Most roles pay hourly with limited benefits
A restaurant with 30 staff turning over at 102% replaces 30 people per year. At roughly $5,000 per replacement (training, lost productivity, recruiting), that's $150,000 annually just to stand still.
What actually moves the needle: Predictable scheduling. When employees know their shifts two weeks out instead of two days out, retention improves measurably. One study found that giving retail and food workers stable schedules reduced turnover by 18%.
Retail trade: 5.5% monthly (66% annualized)
Retail gets hit by many of the same forces as hospitality , hourly pay, variable schedules, limited advancement , but with slightly more stability. The breakdown by subsector tells the real story:
- General merchandise: 81% annual turnover
- Clothing stores: 78%
- Food & beverage stores: 65%
- Building & garden: 50%
- Specialty retail: 45%
The more commoditized the product, the more interchangeable the employee feels , and the faster they leave.
Construction: 5.0% monthly (60% annualized)
Construction turnover is project-driven. When a job ends, workers move to the next contractor offering work. It's not dissatisfaction , it's the nature of the business. Seasonal patterns (winter slowdowns in northern states) amplify the numbers.
Healthcare & social assistance: 3.75% monthly (45% annualized)
Healthcare sits slightly above average, but the variation within healthcare is enormous:
- Certified nursing assistants (CNAs): 31.2% annual
- ICU nurses: 29.7%
- Registered nurses overall: 18.4%
- Physicians: ~6-7%
The roles with the most physical demands, the highest patient ratios, and the least schedule control have the highest turnover. Sound familiar?
Technology (information): 3.0% monthly (36% annualized)
Tech turnover dropped significantly after the 2022-2023 layoff waves. With fewer jobs available, people stayed put. Remote work flexibility helps , tech workers generally have more control over when and where they work than any other sector.
Finance & insurance: 2.25% monthly (27% annualized)
Stability, benefits, pensions, and predictable hours. Finance roles rarely involve shift work, which eliminates one of the biggest turnover drivers. The tradeoff is that low turnover can mean stagnation , fewer openings for advancement, less fresh thinking.
Government & public education: 1.75% monthly (21% annualized)
The lowest turnover of any sector. Job security, pensions, union protections, and defined schedules keep people in government jobs. The flip side: it's hard to remove underperformers, and innovation suffers when nobody leaves.
What turnover actually costs by industry
The cost per departure varies dramatically depending on the role:
| Role Level | Replacement Cost (% of salary) | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Frontline / hourly | 40% | $12,000 on $30,000 salary |
| Technical / professional | 80% | $64,000 on $80,000 salary |
| Manager | 150% | $120,000 on $80,000 salary |
| Executive / leader | 200%+ | $300,000+ on $150,000 salary |
These numbers come from Gallup and include direct costs (recruiting, onboarding, training) plus indirect costs (lost productivity, knowledge loss, team disruption).
The math gets ugly fast. A 50-person restaurant turning over 100% of its staff annually:
- 50 departures × $5,000 average replacement cost = $250,000/year
- If just 42% of that turnover was preventable (Gallup's estimate): $105,000 in avoidable cost
The 42% that's preventable
Here's the stat that should keep managers up at night: Gallup found that 42% of employees who voluntarily quit said their organization or manager could have done something to keep them.
Not "the pay was too low." Not "I got a better offer." They said the company could have fixed it and didn't.
The top reasons in that preventable bucket:
- Engagement & culture , 37% of leavers cite this
- Well-being & work-life balance , 31%
- Compensation & benefits , 11%
- Leadership & management quality , 9%
Notice what's NOT at the top: money. The #1 and #2 reasons are about how people feel at work and whether they have a life outside of it. Schedule flexibility sits right at the intersection of both.
What moves the needle on retention
Based on the data, here's what actually works , ranked by impact:
1. Predictable scheduling (biggest bang for the buck)
Giving employees their schedule further in advance and keeping it stable reduces turnover by 18% in hourly industries. This is the lowest-hanging fruit for hospitality, retail, and healthcare , the three highest-turnover sectors.
2. Career development pathways
32% of people who quit cite limited growth. Even simple things , "here's how you go from server to shift lead to AGM in 18 months" , make a difference.
3. Manager quality
Gallup's famous stat: people don't quit jobs, they quit managers. A bad direct manager is the single strongest predictor of voluntary turnover.
4. Competitive compensation
Money matters less than people think (11% cite it as primary) , but only when it's not the problem. Below-market pay is a dealbreaker. At-market pay is table stakes. Above-market pay has diminishing returns.
5. Onboarding that doesn't suck
77% of voluntary leavers either quit within three months of starting their search or didn't search at all before leaving. That means many made the decision to leave early. The first 90 days are critical , if onboarding feels chaotic and the employee's first experience is a messy schedule and no training, they're already mentally out.
How this connects to scheduling
If you manage a team in one of those high-turnover industries, you can't fix everything overnight. But scheduling is one thing you can fix this week.
The link between schedule chaos and turnover is clear:
- 34% of workers cite schedule inflexibility as a reason for quitting
- Stable schedules reduce turnover by 18%
- Employees who can see their schedule more than 1 week in advance are 40% less likely to start job-searching
Most managers spend 3-5 hours per week building schedules in spreadsheets. That time could be spent on retention activities that actually matter , one-on-ones, career conversations, recognizing good work.
Related reading
- The Real Cost of Employee Turnover - what each departure actually costs
- Healthcare Turnover Rate: Full Breakdown - by role, setting, and generation
- Retail Turnover Rate: Data by Subsector - the numbers behind "retail is brutal"
- Restaurant Staffing Statistics - why hospitality leads the chart
- Employee Scheduling Guide - the scheduling fundamentals that reduce turnover
- Best Employee Scheduling Software - tools compared
Sources
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, JOLTS Table 10: Total Separations, January 2026
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, JOLTS Summary, January 2026
- Mercer 2025 US Turnover Survey
- Gallup: Employee Turnover Is Preventable
- Work Institute 2024 Retention Report
- Corporate Navigators: Average Turnover Rate By Industry (2026 update)
- Payscale 2025 Compensation Best Practice Report
- McKinsey: The Great Attrition
Frequently asked questions
The national average total separations rate is 3.3% per month, which works out to roughly 39.6% annually. But this varies wildly by industry , hospitality hits 8.5% monthly while government sits at 1.75%.
Leisure and hospitality has the highest turnover at 8.5% monthly separations (roughly 102% annualized). Arts, entertainment, and recreation follows at 6.5%. Retail trade rounds out the top three at 5.5%.
Government and public education tie for the lowest at 1.75% monthly separations. Finance and insurance is next at 2.25%. These industries typically offer more stability, benefits, and pensions.
According to Gallup, anything under 10% annually is considered healthy. But context matters , a 20% rate in hospitality might be excellent, while the same rate in government would be alarming. Compare against your specific industry, not the national average.
Gallup estimates replacement costs at 50-200% of annual salary depending on the role. For frontline workers it's roughly 40% of salary. For managers and executives, it can exceed 200%. US businesses collectively lose about $1 trillion per year to voluntary turnover.
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