Young workers quit jobs early, quit jobs a lot
After 1-2 years of working, even a few months of probation, many young workers quit their jobs to find new environments. "Salary" has become a popular choice.
Revenue pressure and high expectations
Mr. Bui Ngoc Anh, born in 2000, graduated with a bachelor's degree in graphics in July 2023. Since then, Mr. Ngoc Anh has "job-hoped" 4 times.
According to Mr. Ngoc Anh's account, immediately after graduating, he worked for a publishing house as a graphic designer. After half a year, realizing that the job did not bring the expected income, Mr. Ngoc Anh switched to working as a product packaging designer for a company specializing in producing functional foods. In October 2024, Mr. Ngoc Anh continued to change jobs, in charge of interior cultural design for a construction group. In September 2025, he quit his job at a construction group, returning to work as a graphic designer for a private publishing house.
In less than 3 years since graduating from university, I have job-hopped 4 times. The main reason for job-hopping is that my income is not as expected. I want an income at around 30 million VND/month, but in all 4 jobs I have experienced, I have to work overtime hard and have "good" projects to have this income. Currently, my salary is about 17 million VND/month, plus welfare and allowances, total income is about 22-23 million VND/month," Mr. Ngoc Anh said.
According to the Hanoi Employment Service Center, at many recruitment sessions, it is not difficult to encounter applications from new candidates over 20 years old but who have gone through 3–4 different jobs.
Many young workers believe that if the job does not meet expectations about income, environment or development opportunities, they are willing to quit to find another direction. The psychology of "if you don't get along, quit" is increasingly popular, reflecting a clear change in the professional thinking of the new generation of workers.
One of the main reasons why young people quit their jobs early is income pressure. Living expenses are increasing rapidly while the starting salaries of many industries have not kept up with reality, making it difficult for young workers to ensure their lives. Not to mention, many young people today have higher expectations about the working environment, career advancement opportunities and the balance between work and life. When these expectations are not met, they are willing to look for new opportunities instead of accepting long-term commitments," said Mr. Vu Quang Thanh, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Employment Service Center.
When flexibility becomes risk
Mr. Le Quang Trung - former Deputy Director in charge of the Department of Employment believes that job hopping at a reasonable level can help workers expand their skills and experience. However, job hopping too early and too much is potentially risky.
First of all, there is the risk of lacking in accumulated specialized skills. When they have not yet mastered the job, workers have switched to a new environment, leading to skills only stopping at the surface level, lacking the necessary depth for long-term development. In addition, constantly changing jobs also makes the career profile lack "durability". Many businesses appreciate stability and commitment, so they tend to be cautious with candidates with a history of frequent job hopping.
Mr. Trung also mentioned another consequence which is social security risk. When young workers continuously change jobs, especially switching to freelance, short-term jobs, they will easily fall into the situation of paying social insurance non-continuously or withdrawing insurance once. In the long term, this directly affects retirement benefits, health insurance and other social security regimes. Income may increase rapidly in the short term, but instability makes workers face many risks when encountering events or getting old.
Mr. Trung advised young workers that investing in core skills, lifelong learning and building a long-term career path will help reduce risks when changing jobs. Job-hopping should be a calculated choice, not an immediate reflex to difficulties.
On the business side, it is necessary to improve the working environment, make the development roadmap transparent and have preferential policies to retain young workers. A respectful environment that creates learning opportunities will help increase long-term engagement.
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