In March, over 4.5 million individuals voluntarily quit their jobs. This left businesses with an unimaginable number of available positions.
Americans are leaving their jobs at record rates. Many of them choose to leave rather than go back to work as many employers have ended remote-work policies that were offered in the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to Tuesday’s report by the US Labor Department, 4.54 million workers quit their jobs, surpassing the record set in November last year and increasing 23% over a single year. Employers struggled to find workers amid rising labor costs. This also led to a record number of job openings, which reached 11.5 million.
March’s report marks the latest installment in a pandemic-era wave of labor tumult known as the ‘Great Resignation.’These numbers are to be viewed in the context of April 2021. Before that date, 4 million Americans were unemployed. That level has now been breached for 10 straight months, and March’s total was equivalent to about 3% of the entire US workforce.
To attract employees, employers have offered higher salaries, sign bonuses, and generous benefits packages in an effort to fill vacant positions. Some companies offer more time off, as Americans are increasingly putting work first. According to reports, one New York-based technology company offered new employees a paid two-week vacation right before they started work.
Due to the difficulty of replacing workers, businesses are becoming less willing to hire new employees. In March, there were three people who quit their job for each one of the employees that was laid off or fired. Layoffs and discharges decreased 7.1% compared to a year ago.
The concern about the US’s labor shortage has largely focused on the entry-level jobs such as retail and fast food, but white-collar workers have been leaving in greater numbers. On March 2, 2008, 809,00 Americans in the professional and business service sector quit their jobs, an increase of 28% over the previous year. At 0.8%, the government led the way with 0.5% quit rates for the public sector. This was the only segment that had quit rates less than 1.5%.
Chief economist of online job marketplace ZipRecruiter Julia Pollak said that the Great Resignation was exacerbated by the fact that employers are now requiring employees to go back to work after they have allowed them to work remotely during the outbreak. According to the company, 14% of those who have moved into a new job in the last six months were able to work remotely from their current position.
Jerome Powell (Federal Reserve Bank Chairman) called the US Job Market “unsustainably hot”It is also a significant driver in inflation’s rise to 40-year high. Even with the labor market being overheated, US employment is more than 1,000,000 below levels pre-pandemic.
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