The Great Resignation — 4.5 Million Quit or Changed Jobs in November

The U.S. Department of Labor just released some fascinating statistics. In November of last year 4.5 million workers quit or changed jobs. That’s the highest number in the history of the department’s survey.

November was the fourth time in 2021 that quitting or job changing set a record. The other three were April, August, and September. On top of all that quitting and changing is another part of the report that says there are 10.6 million jobs sitting empty and in need of someone to do that work.

Economists say some 20 million workers lost their jobs in the Spring of 2020 when the pandemic hit. When things started to thaw, a lot of those workers refused to return to work. That led to the imbalance we see now, and it has given workers a lot more salary and benefit leverage than they’ve had before.

Julia Pollak of ZipRecruiter said this is a very, very tight labor market.

“This is the tightest labor market ever,” she said. “These are not quits from the labor force but quits from lower-paying jobs to higher-paying jobs, from less prestigious jobs to better, more prestigious jobs, from less flexible jobs to more flexible jobs.”

Retail and restaurant employers have experienced the most trouble filling jobs.

Breaking it down a bit:

• Close to 7% of restaurant and bar workers quit in November
• 4.4% of retail workers bagged their jobs

Other companies are struggling, too. It’s led to companies competing against each other with higher wages, better benefits and cash bonuses for going to work for them.

Source link: The Washington Post — https://wapo.st/3r9bqnF