November 12, 2021
November 12, 2021
In a sign that the Great Resignation continues, the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary (JOLTS) from the US Department of Labor Statistics told us a few things:
That last bullet point is important. While there were signs that return-to-work rates are declining, the acceleration of the quits rate slows down those gains. Positively, we did see a net gain of 248,000 hires over separations (quits, layoffs, etc). That said: the number of still falls close to 4 million below the number of job openings.
Job openings increased in
Job openings decreased in
Indeed Hiring Lab Economic Research Director Nick Bunker: "While demand might have slowed down, workers continue to quit at historic levels, with the quits rate hitting an all-time high of 3%. The rise of quitting across the labor market is remarkable, but the concentration among a few sectors is eye-popping. Quits are up the most in sectors where most work is in-person or relatively low paying."
“There are likely some Delta-induced quits here, workers are fed up with working conditions and feel unsafe and quitting even though they might not immediately jump into a new job,” Daniel Zhao, an economist at Glassdoor, told the Washington Post.
Heather Long, Economics Correspondent for the Washington Post, pointed to the increasing quits rate as a sign of growing worker dissatisfaction:
Just In: A record 4.4 million Americans quit their jobs in September 2021.
— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) November 12, 2021
So far this year, 34.5 million Americans have quit -- millions more than anything ever seen before.
(Next closest was 2019 when 31.7 million quit Jan-Sept).
The Great Resignation is PICKING UP speed pic.twitter.com/bSgkI9P6qk
“Labor now has the initiative, and the era of paying individuals less than a livable wage has ended,” said Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM US. “This strongly suggests that rising wages are going to be part and parcel of the economic landscape going forward.”
On a more optimistic note, Economic Policy Institute senior economist Elise Gould offered some hope for the future, dependent on how Covid behaves this fall, and if the October quits show any sign of slowing during the next report (due out in December).
While record high quits has remained the big story for the last couple of months, I expect hiring to rebound in the next #JOLTS report with receding Delta-driven COVID caseloads and the return of stronger job growth in the October jobs data. pic.twitter.com/3tEYc9UOyb
— Elise Gould (@eliselgould) November 12, 2021