The Industries Where People Are Most Likely to Quit Their Jobs

People threaten to quit their jobs all the time. That doesn’t mean they do. But it is a common enough refrain—and a common enough occurrence. Turns out, however, it seems to be more common in certain fields than in others. Here are 10 fields most susceptible to losing personnel.

1. Hospitality

You try waiting on grumpy people your entire workweek. Food service employees and people in the travel industry work crazy hours and are paid relatively little, which can be difficult to sustain. Plus, this industry draws young people supplementing their income and often loses employees to their forever careers.

2. Healthcare

High stakes, high stress. It’s not easy having people’s lives in your hands. Sometimes this field can be too much to take long term.

3. Real Estate

It’s easy enough to get your license and start practicing. But this job is actually incredibly difficult in terms of achieving actual success. Almost half of aspiring agents quit after failing to make their first sale. Without the right negotiation skills and sales prowess, it can be incredibly difficult to stick out.

4. Non-profit

Hard work, personal development… no money. Unless you’re in a top management position, this can be a frustrating and unrewarding venture. Lots of non-profit sector employees tend to migrate into the private sector to make more money.

5. Mining/logging

Talk about grueling, hazardous work. There’s a very high risk of fatalities in this field and the earnings are comparatively low. So when miners or loggers get a shot out, they almost always take it.

6. Construction

This career choice is not terribly well compensated, and can be extremely dangerous.

7. Retail

Much like the service industry, retail attracts younger employees who can suffer the low hourly wage and unpleasant, inflexible hours. But very few stick around if they can help it.

8. Arts and entertainment

Lots of people have dreams to be performers, actors, musicians, magicians, you name it. But the career is exceptionally challenging and paid opportunities are scarce. Given the difficulty in finding a stable career path, lots of artists end up finding other work.

9. Trades/transport

Many workers who quit this field move onto better opportunities, considering the skilled labor involved. Some, however, don’t—such as taxi drivers, truckers, freight haulers, etc. The work can be taxing and the pay relatively low.

10. Transportation warehousing/utilities

With an even higher fatality rate than mining and logging, these workers are at a very high risk for workplace injury. And, again, the pay is often hardly worth the risk.