3% of Workforce Quit in August

According to Washington Post, job quitters continue to rise to record highs. In August, 4.3 million people quit jobs, which is about 2.9 to 3 percent of the workforce, as released by data from the Labor Department.

Some of the attributable reasons include less willingness to accommodate inconvenient hours and poor compensation, as well as quitting to find better opportunities. There were 10.4 million job openings by end of August.

Usually, labor market shifts indicate confident workers willing to risk security of the current job for new opportunity; however, Covid times have been more unpredictable than ever. Businesses have reported difficulty finding and retaining qualified employees, while others have succeeded at retention through increased pay and compensation.

Workers who lost their jobs earlier in the pandemic, might have to retrain and add skills for new careers, as those who might be displeased with low-paying jobs may find new more desirable jobs as long as they obtain the new skills necessary.

For example, almost 900,000 workers in restaurant, bars, and hotels quit, 721,000 from retail, 706,000 in professional business services, and 534,000 from health care and social assistance have left in August. In almost every sector, people are quitting, with those at the lowest wage service the most. As job openings outnumber unemployed workers, people are able to reevaluate and seek out what they might want to do instead.

While there is no specified reason for the continued number of quitting in various industries, experts are pointing to loss of confidence in the jobs coupled with stronger bargaining positions than the past.

In fact, the pandemic has brought significant disruption to the industry, with many folks feeling unappreciated by management and finding better pastures. People are now looking to find opportunities that serve them best, such as jobs that provide remote and flexible work, compensation and bonus packages, and even wider range of positions and opportunities for moving up.

In fact, Republican efforts of lessening the benefits of federal unemployment to increase employment has not been successful, as only about 194,000 jobs were added despite the number of openings.

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