What is job lock, and why are 23 million Americans experiencing it?

West Health and Gallup have tracked healthcare affordability for five years, and Maese said the latest numbers are the worst yet. Rising premiums, high deductible plan switches, and growing out-of-pocket costs have made workers more dependent on the coverage their job provides. In fact, just three in 10 Americans currently say it’s a good time to find a job, according to Gallup polling, down from seven in 10 in 2022.

Why this matters beyond the individual worker

Job lock doesn’t just affect the person who feels stuck. Maese pointed to years of Gallup research on disengagement to explain why employers should pay attention to this data.

“When people are forced to keep a job that they don’t want to be in, whether it’s to keep their insurance or for any other reason, we see their engagement as an employee tank,” she said. “Their productivity isn’t there. They’re more likely to have safety issues or security issues when it comes to their job. They’re more likely to miss days of work.”

That drop in engagement carries a real cost. Gallup’s own State of the Global Workplace research has tied falling engagement to trillions in lost productivity worldwide, and Maese said job lock follows a similar pattern.

“Organizations that are employing people who are disengaged, their bottom line goes down because they don’t have that employee productivity,” she said. “Their cost of turnover goes way up because they’re losing people.”