1 in 4 U.S. workers stay in unwanted jobs for health insurance
About 24% of U.S. workers stayed in unwanted jobs for health insurance, up from 16% in 2021. The jump signals stronger “job lock” even as coverage remains widespread.
About 24% of U.S. employees were staying in jobs they wanted to leave because they feared losing health insurance, a West Health-Gallup finding released Wednesday showed. That was up from 16% in 2021, a sharp rise in so-called job lock that can limit worker mobility, weaken bargaining power and make it harder to start a business.
The West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare in America said its work tracks how Americans experience care through cost, quality and access. Its latest reading landed alongside signs that the affordability strain remains intense: Gallup-West Health research found fewer than half of Americans can afford needed care and medications, and about one-third made at least one daily-life tradeoff in the past year to pay healthcare expenses.
Employer coverage still anchors that pressure. KFF’s 2024 Employer Health Benefits Survey, published Oct. 9, 2024, found employer health insurance remained a central part of compensation. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said 75% of civilian workers had access to medical care benefits in March 2024, underscoring how often jobs and coverage remain tied together. ASPE said more than 300 million Americans had health insurance coverage in 2024, while the uninsured rate fell to 7.6% in the second quarter of 2024.
The earlier 2021 Gallup-West Health survey put the job-lock problem at 16% of adult workers, and West Health said Black workers were 50% more likely than White workers to stay in unwanted jobs for health benefits. The latest jump suggests the fear of losing coverage did not fade as the labor market recovered from the pandemic. It instead appears to have deepened for a larger share of workers.
The pressure on workers comes at a time when the labor market still depends heavily on employer-sponsored insurance. That leaves healthcare costs, layoffs and broader post-pandemic insecurity as the key forces economists and benefits experts are likely to watch when they explain why more workers are staying put.
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