Record 4.4 Million People Quit Their Jobs in September – PJ Media
It exceeded the previous record set in August.
In August, 4.3 million people — a record number — quit their jobs for a variety of reasons. It was believed that once the labor market began to settle down after the disruptions caused by the pandemic those numbers would ease and the demand for work would catch up with the supply of jobs.
That may be the case, but not in September. A record 4.4 million workers decided to leave their jobs, raising the specter that the disconnect between the number of jobs and people looking for work would continue to dampen economic growth.
The specific industries being affected by people leaving their jobs reveal one aspect of the crisis: In a flush labor market, many workers have the luxury of changing careers for better pay, benefits, or both.
In September, the number of quits increased in arts, entertainment, and recreation (+56,000); a category labeled “other services” (+47,000); and state and local government education (+30,000). In general, industries with the highest percentages of workers quitting include trade, transportation, and utilities, particularly retail, professional and business services, and leisure and hospitality industries like arts and entertainment, and hotels and restaurants. A whopping 6.6 percent of workers in accommodation and food services quit their job in the month.
The South, the West and Midwest have the highest numbers of workers quitting their jobs, at 3.3, 3.1 and 3.0 percent, while only 2.2 percent of workers in the Northeast are quitting jobs.
You see this if you go out to eat or even get takeout. There are no workers in restaurants. I took my daughter out to eat for her birthday. We had a 45 minute wait to get a table and the restaurant was almost empty. They didn’t have enough servers or kitchen staff to handle even a light capacity.
All of this is driven by mask and vaccine mandates and the fear of the China virus that we have instilled in the American people. We have got to get over this and return to our lives. It’s the only way this is going to get better. it’s the only way the Global Supply Chain is going to get better. It’s the only way the economy is going to get better.
