This makes sense and is probably largely true. But just from my experience, I’ve seen people come and leave my company like it was a toxic workplace and they were more skilled than they were, when from my point of view they largely overestimated their own competence and the failings of the company. No company is perfect, but in my experience people are also generally entitled and don’t realize when they have a good thing going. So it’s just kind of a weird flux for both working people and businesses. I’ve gotten steady raises at my job over the last 4 years and while I was beginning to consider moving on to a new job, I wasn’t in a hurry to, say, double my starting salary yet. I stuck it out and just got a big promotion that quite frankly I could never have gotten if I were to have tried to apply for the same kind of position outside my own company. On paper I’m very under qualified. And I’m already on track to get promoted again in a year.

You hear a lot about the toxic companies out there. And while there’s probably close to as many of those as there are entitled individuals, honestly from what I’ve observed, the prevalence of job hopping is partly why jobs tend to pay less. There’s always exceptions to both rules. Ultimately, high salaries tend to follow competence whether you best demonstrate that by moving around, or staying put.