Nearly a quarter of American workers are staying in jobs they don’t actually want. Not because the pay is great, and not because they love the work. They’re staying because leaving means losing their health insurance. A new report confirms just how widespread that trap has become, and the number is climbing fast.
The Numbers Behind “Job Lock”
A study released this week by the West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare in America found that 24% of employees who get health insurance through their job are staying in that job specifically to keep the coverage. Researchers call this “job lock,” and it isn’t a small phenomenon. The report estimates roughly 23 million American adults currently fall into this category.
What makes the number striking is how fast it grew. Back in 2021, only 16% of workers reported being in job lock. In five years, that figure jumped 8 percentage points, meaning millions more people have quietly become trapped in roles they’d otherwise leave.
The problem gets worse for people managing a chronic health condition. Among that group, 41% say they’re staying in a job purely to hold onto insurance. For someone managing ongoing treatment or medication costs, walking away from employer coverage can feel like too big a risk to take, even if the job itself isn’t working out.
Why This Is Happening Now
Part of the answer traces back to a policy change. In 2021, Congress expanded financial assistance for middle-income people buying their own insurance through ACA marketplaces. That assistance made it more realistic for someone to leave a job, start a business, or go freelance without losing affordable coverage entirely.
Those expanded subsidies expired in 2025. Once they disappeared, so did a meaningful safety net for anyone considering self-employment. Researchers pointed directly to this timing as a likely driver behind the recent spike in job lock numbers.
Timing matters here too. A separate Gallup poll from May found that only 28% of workers currently believe it’s a good time to look for a new job, the lowest reading since 2013. Between a shakier job market and pricier independent insurance, staying put has become the safer-feeling choice for a lot of people, even when it isn’t the happier one.
The Real Cost of Staying
Researchers involved in the study don’t think this is just a personal frustration issue. Michele Maese, one of the report’s authors, pointed out that unhappy employees tend to be less effective at work, which ripples outward into the broader economy. She specifically named leaving, moving, and becoming an entrepreneur as the kind of mobility a healthy economy actually needs to see more of.
Michael Cannon, another voice cited in the coverage, framed the core issue slightly differently. He argued that tying insurance so tightly to employment creates coverage gaps and reduces income mobility overall, regardless of the exact percentage of workers affected. His preferred fix involves insurance that belongs to the individual rather than the employer, so coverage would stay stable even as someone changes jobs.
Maese raised a related concern about the middle class specifically. Many workers in this group don’t qualify for financial assistance but also don’t earn enough to comfortably absorb rising healthcare costs on their own. That combination leaves them with few good options besides staying exactly where they are.
What This Means If You’re Feeling Stuck
If you recognize yourself in this data, you’re clearly not alone, and the trend suggests this isn’t a personal failing so much as a structural squeeze most workers are dealing with right now. Quitting outright to chase a healthier income insurance situation isn’t realistic for most people this year, especially with the ACA subsidy changes still fresh.
That said, building a second income stream on the side can ease some of that pressure without requiring a full leap. It won’t replace employer coverage, but it can create breathing room, whether that means paying down debt faster, covering rising premiums, or simply having options if a job situation does eventually need to change. 7 Side Hustles You Can Start Without Losing Sleep or Sanity covers a handful of realistic options that fit around a full-time job rather than replacing it outright.
Bottom Line
Job lock isn’t a fringe experience anymore. It’s now something close to one in four American workers deal with, and the number has grown sharply in just five years. Until insurance becomes less tied to a specific employer, staying put is likely to remain the default choice for millions of people, even when the job itself stopped being the right fit a long time ago.
Sources: NPR, West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare in America.
