The Great Resignation Part 2

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its newest report on Job Openings and Labor Turnover on March 9, 2022. The short story is very little has changed in the beginning of 2022. Quit rates have decreased though, however slightly. Comparing January 2022 to December 2021 there were 151,000 fewer employees who quit their jobs. One month does not necessarily make a trend but given higher rates of inflation perhaps we are beginning to see an end to the “Great Resignation.”

Overall, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that in 2021 47.8 million people quit their jobs, which represented 69.3% of all separations, meaning more people quit than were terminated, let go, or laid off. Those 47.8 million people represent the most in any one year that have ever quit their jobs. Seventeen million people, or 24.6% of the total separations were laid-off or discharged.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics also looks at the net change in employment, year over year. From the end of January 2021 to the end of January 2022, there was a net employment gain of 6.4 million jobs, meaning there were 6.4 million more hires than people who left their jobs for whatever reason. Further, in 2021 2.9 million more people found employment than in 2020.

We will have to wait and see if January marks the beginning of the end of the “Great Resignation.”