In your 20s? Here's how to get a fatter salary at 40

Matt Cantor

Newser Staff

A help wanted sign fills a window at an AT&T cell phone store in Rockville Centre, N.Y.

A new study has a message for twentysomethings: To land a better-paying job that you love when you're older, it's healthy to job-hop now.

It seems that frequent job-switchers boost their odds of having higher-paying, more satisfying jobs in their 30s and 40s, The Atlantic reports.

While the cause isn't certain, a researcher has a theory: When people job-hop, they end up with "better matches—their true calling."

The findings shine a light on misconceptions about young people and unemployment, The Atlantic notes.

Yes, youngsters are more likely than older people to be unemployed, but it's not because they can't get hired; it's because they're more likely to quit.

In fact, those in the 20-24 set were almost three times as likely to leave their job within a year as those ages 45 to 54.

A 2012 study found that the average American has more than 11 jobs between the ages of 18 and 46, and they hold half of those positions before 25, Yahoo Finance reports.

But frequent quitting doesn't appear to be a Millennial thing: Today's young people don't quit at a higher rate than young people did three or four decades ago.

They are, however, more likely to switch job fields entirely when they do quit.

That means more exploration, which, as the study suggests, could be helpful for the future.

"As the worker samples more occupations and accumulates knowledge about her occupational fit, the probability of finding her true calling rises," the researchers say, per FiveThirtyEight.

This article originally appeared on Newser: In Your 20s? Here's How to Get a Fatter Salary at 40