Workers are quitting at historic rates — and the ’leap of faith’ trend may just be beginning
▻https://money.yahoo.com/workers-are-quitting-at-historic-rates-180539760.html
Jamaica Blair finally quit her teaching job in April, demoralized by the low wages, insufficient staffing, and most recently the challenges from the pandemic. She wants to be a chef, a career decision that took a long time to make.
“Last year, I really wanted to leave, but I guess I became complacent. I was too afraid to leave,” Blair, 26, told Yahoo Money. “This is the first time I actually took the leap of faith.”
Blair joins the 4 million workers who quit their jobs in April, a 20-year record, according to the Labor Department’s latest JOLTS report. The rate of workers voluntarily leaving their jobs also hit an all-time high of 2.7% that month.
This could be only the beginning of a new labor trend, according to ZipRecruiter Economist Julia Pollak, who suspects a wave of workers may soon give notice in the coming months.
“We could see sustained, very high levels of quits throughout the summer at the very least,” she told Yahoo Money. “As long as the labor market remains this tight and employers are competing for workers, you will see people learning about exciting new opportunities and making the switch.”
Jamaica Blair quit her teaching job in April. Courtesy of: Blair
‘Don’t end up like me’
Workers are quitting for different reasons depending on the sector and their positions, but in general, there’s an uptick in workers leaving in most industries. Accommodation and food services along with retail trade had the largest quit rates in April of 5.6% and 4.3%, respectively.
Battered during the height of the pandemic, those two sectors also saw a jump in job openings in the spring, but hiring came in at lower levels, suggesting workers aren’t enthusiastic to return to those positions.
“These two industry groups are not only relatively lower paid, they also have high in-person contact,” Nick Bunker, director of research at Indeed, told Yahoo Money. “Maybe some of the factors here could be about wages, but it also could be related to working conditions related to the pandemic.”