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In 2025, Voluntary Dismissal Set a Record: Nearly 9 Million Changed Jobs in an Unemployment Scenario at 5.4%, Real Wage Gains, and Formal Market at the Highest Level Since 2020. Data from Novo Caged and PNAD Show the Paradox and the Pressures for Mobility in Daily Practice
Dismissing a job has ceased to be a rare event and has begun to function as an indicator of confidence in the market itself. In 2025, nearly 9 million workers requested voluntary resignations, according to data from the Ministry of Labor and Employment, and this happened precisely when unemployment decreased and wages advanced.
The contrast is direct: with more job openings and more income, the cost of staying put decreases, but the cost of remaining in a position that doesn’t make sense increases. This movement appears within the formal market, which ended 2025 with a positive balance and a record stock of people with signed work cards, reinforcing the interpretation of a cycle of exchange, not of retraction.
The Record of Dismissal in 2025 and What the Numbers Really Say
In 2025, the volume of dismissals at the worker’s request approached 9 million, the highest ever recorded.
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This figure is striking because it did not come with a widespread decline in employment; it came alongside high hiring rates and intense turnover in the formal market.
According to Novo Caged, 2025 ended with a balance of 1.27 million signed job openings, resulting from 26.59 million admissions and 25.32 million dismissals.
The stock of formal links reached 48.47 million, the highest in the historical series since 2020, which helps explain why dismissals have come to be seen as a strategy rather than an exception.
Low Unemployment, Rising Wages, and the Psychological Effect of Exchange
With unemployment at 5.4% and average real earnings at R$ 3,613, up 5% for the year, the perception of risk changes.
In such an environment, dismissal can be viewed as a planned transition, because the chance of reemployment seems greater than in cycles of scarcity.
At the same time, rising wages elevate the comparison parameter: those receiving better offers assess more clearly the cost of staying.
The point is not just to earn more, but to feel that the trajectory is still upward, which fuels mobility within the formal market and prompts new rounds of dismissals in 2025.
The Formal Market at the Top and Turnover as the Engine of the System Itself
The advancement of the formal market to a record stock does not eliminate the friction between vacancy and person; it reorganizes this friction.
When there are more open positions and more admissions, the probability increases that a worker will change locations to improve salary, role, or conditions.
This mechanism creates a circular dynamic: the formal market hires, someone resigns, another person fills the vacancy, and the rotation continues.
High turnover is not synonymous with crisis on its own; it can be a sign of competition for labor, especially when unemployment is low and wages are on a positive trajectory.
Structural Changes Outside Traditional Employment and the Role of Alternatives
The record of dismissals in 2025 is also connected to alternatives that do not depend on classic employment links.
In the year, self-employment grew by 9.1%, while informality saw a slight contraction, indicating that part of the movement may shift to different income formats.
Digital platforms and new models of occupation expand possible routes, but do not eliminate risk.
When income diversifies, the decision to resign ceases to be binary, because the exit can lead to another job, a personal project, or a combination of sources, still influenced by the dynamics of the formal market.
Economy, Interest Rates, and What 2026 May Change in the Wave of Dismissal
Income and employment have supported household consumption, especially in services, even with Selic at 15% per year.
This detail matters because high interest rates tend to cool hiring with a delay; if this cooling occurs, dismissals may lose strength as a choice, not for moral reasons, but due to calculation.
For 2026, projections mention unemployment between 5.2% and 5.7% by the end of the year, suggesting moderate adjustment, not rupture.
If wages slow down and the formal market reduces the pace of admissions, dismissals may remain high, but with a different profile: less exchange for immediate opportunity and more exchange for income protection.
The record of dismissals in 2025 is not an isolated figure; it is related to low unemployment, rising wages, and a formal market at the highest level in the recent series.
The same combination that reduces the fear of being without income also increases the intolerance for work that does not deliver a future, and that changes the way stability is perceived.
If you have already resigned or are thinking about resigning, what was the real trigger: salary, quality of life, management, distance, or lack of perspective? And looking ahead to 2026, do you believe that unemployment and wages will continue to sustain this level of dismissals in the formal market?
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