But you're a high income worker. Purplesky was referring to people who earn around $50K/yr. Take a factory worker for example. She may work her way up to $20/hr over 10 years. If she gets layed off she may have a hard time finding a similar job that will pay her even $12/hr. Not sure why it works that way for some professions and not for others. Some people, like you, can quit one job and get a raise by going to another company doing the same work. Factory workers and other similar jobs often have to start over at the starting pay for that new company which is probably not higher than what she was making after 10 years at the other company. It worked for you and that's great but doesn't work for everyone in the lower income jobs.
To a small degree, I was able to job-hop when I had my second job delivering pizzas, and got a few perks along the way. I started off at Little Caesar's, but wasn't getting the good shifts, and really wasn't making much money. So I went and applied with Papa John's. They weren't in direct competition with our store...at least not yet, but there were a few open that were close enough to where I lived. Anyway, I went through the training and everything, only to have the Little Caesar's manager ask me what it would take to make me stay. I did get a slight raise, and whatever shift I wanted.
Ultimately though, a Papa John's opened about a half mile up the street, and I jumped ship. They paid a bit better, and paid more per delivery. However, Little Caesar's actually did make an offer, to get me back, but I was still a lot better off sticking with Papa John's, because they were so much busier...I'd do better on the tips from the volume, even if Little Caesar's paid me a bit more in base. For awhile, I was actually bringing home more per week at Papa John's than I was from my full-time job! Although, that's really not a fair comparison, as the full-time job covered my 401k, insurance, and the bulk of my taxes.
But, you're right, for the most part, job hopping in the middle and entry level jobs isn't really going to get you up the pay scale. And even in my case, it wasn't much of a boost. I think Little Caesar's started me off at $5.25 per hour, and then boosted me to $5.50. I forget how much we got per delivery though. I remember making $6.00 per hour at Papa John's, and I think it started off at $0.60 per delivery, but later they bumped me to $1.00 per delivery.
I doubt if these types of jobs have even kept up with inflation. That was 1997-2001 that I was making $6/hr. Just to keep up with inflation, that would probably have to be around $8.50-9 per hour today, plus tips. I averaged around $16 per hour take home back then...which would equate to around $22-24 today.