A record 4.5 million people quit their jobs in November
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The number of people voluntarily quitting their jobs surged to a record 4.5 million in November, a show of confidence in the labor market and an indication that higher wages could prevail for a while.
The increase of 370,000 people who quit, which was reported Tuesday in the Labor Department's monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, was led by the accommodation and food services industry.
There were also big increases in the health care and social assistance fields, as well as the transportation, warehousing and utilities sectors. All four U.S. regions reported rises in the number of people quitting their jobs.
"The historic rates of quitting continued through the end of 2021," said Nick Bunker, the director of research at the job services company Indeed Hiring Lab. "Workers continued to switch jobs in light of the many opportunities the current labor market provides, with the private-sector quits rate hitting an all-time high of 3.4 percent. Of course, whether these conditions continue into 2022 is one of the biggest questions for the year ahead."
Lower-wage sectors directly affected by the coronavirus pandemic continue to have higher levels of quitting, Bunker said, adding that the so-called quits rate in the hospitality sector was 6.9 percent. There were also large declines in job openings in that sector, as well as the construction and nondurable goods manufacturing industries.
Job openings, a measure of labor demand, dropped by 529,000 to a still-high 10.6 million on the last day of November. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 11.075 million vacancies.
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My daughter quit her job with Nat. Geo. They begged her to stay on for another 6 months and tossed in some bonuses which she wisely accepted without pushing the limits of negotiations. They had throughout her employment treated her extremely well including an all expenses paid trip across the pond to hold my hand while I counted bugs marching across the ICU walls in Busby Berkeley formations ... not all hallucinations are bad.
If you don't mind me asking, why did she want to quit? It sounds like it was a dream job.
She met a boy-toy she wants to marry and he lives over here. I tried to convince her otherwise as so do I, and really, 2 'artists' in the same family? Yikes!
Meanwhile in Colorado, King Soopers (Kroger) employees have almost unanimously voted to strike starting on Saturday. While I sympathize with their situation, I doubt if it will go over well with the public.
It seems that the false narrative of extended unemployment benefits keeping people from going back to work is really just that, phony BS. The pandemic has changed the way people look at work in the US, both in returning to work in a low paying job and quitting to improve their lot in the job market.
I know of three people who have decided not to return to work until their benefits run out simply because the benefits pay more than their jobs did.
Myt son quit a perfectly good 150K a year job but it was 24/7 revolving shifts etc
to spend more time with his kids while flipping homes and transitioning into home inspections
while the wife and MIL do the real estate end.
Benefits don't seem to matter to them...
The pandemic has resulted in more Boomers retiring early. The increased pace of Boomer retirement does shrink the available pool of labor. But more importantly the Boomer retirements create opportunities for younger workers to seek better jobs.
There aren't more jobs being created; there are fewer workers. We shouldn't be surprised if political Washington attempts to impose more draconian measures to make retirement less attractive and to try to keep the Boomers in the labor force.