Posted on Jan 4, 2022, 7:33 a.m.
The “Great Resignation” in the United States is in full swing. This phenomenon of increasing resignations, observed since the start of the Covid pandemic, was confirmed in November. The US Department of Labor estimates in a survey released Tuesday that 4.5 million Americans quit their jobs at that time. Unheard of in nearly two decades (the Labor Department has been studying this data since 2000).
Initially observed in the service sector, this increase in departures is now spreading across all industries, pushing the quit rate to 3%. The number of available positions fell to 10.6 million (against 11.1 million in October).
The hotel and catering industry particularly affected
Some sectors are more affected than others by this wave of resignations, which illustrates the change in the relationship that employees have with their jobs. First sectors affected: accommodation and catering services, underlines the ministerial report. Next came the transportation industry, and warehousing, which recorded the second highest number of quits on record. Resignations have also increased noticeably in health care.
Total hires were little changed in November at 6.7 million (against 6.5 million in October). The unemployment rate fell to 4.2%, close to what economists consider full employment.
The US government has spent heavily on jobs, undermined by the Covid crisis (more than 22 million jobs were lost between March and April 2020, and the unemployment rate had climbed to 14.8%).
Source Bloomberg
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