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About 4.43 million Americans quit their jobs in September, which is the most on record since December 2000, in a shift that some have called “The Great Resignation,” according to the Labor Department.
The resignations were seen as a positive sign for the jobs market due to the optimism these workers have that they’ll land on their feet with another job. The resignations were announced at the same time that the University of Michigan reported that its Consumer Sentiment Index sank to 66.8, which is the lowest reading since November 2011, according to CNBC.
Richard Curtin, the survey’s chief economist, blamed an “escalating inflation rate and the Growing belief among consumers that no effective policies have yet been developed to reduce the damage from surging inflation.”
U.S. consumer prices increased by 6.2 percent year-over-year in October, which marks a nearly 31-year high. About 25 percent of consumers said they will reduce their living standards in order to make up for the price increases. The report said an increase in hourly earnings, which rose 4.9 percent in October from last year, has not kept up with inflation.
The quit rate hit a record-high 3 percent in October with the largest percentage of those who left their jobs working in the arts, entertainment, and recreation industry, the report said. Those were some of the industries hit hardest by the pandemic.
“So far this year, 34.5 million Americans have quit—millions more than anything ever seen before,” Heather Long, The Washington Post’s economics reporter, tweeted. “(Next closest was 2019 when 31.7 million quit Jan-Sept). The Great Resignation is PICKING UP speed.”
At the same time, there continues to be a labor shortage in the U.S. that may continue into 2022. The National Federation of Independent Business reported in September that 51 percent of small companies say they have job openings that they are unable to fill.
“Some people are delaying a return to the labor market because they still fear catching the virus and becoming deathly ill,” Gad Levanon, the founder of the Labor Market Institute, wrote on CNN.com. “The federal mandate for large private employers to require workers to be vaccinated or tested weekly may be a new drag on labor supply, as some workers will not be willing to get the vaccine.
What’s more, older Americans’ labor participation rate, which measures the share of a population that is either employed or looking for work, significantly declined during the pandemic. And there are no signs of it recovering, either because older workers are at a higher risk of becoming extremely ill from catching the virus, or they feel financially prepared for retirement given the surge in stock and home prices in recent years.
TRENDPOST: Trends Journal saw this coming. See “EMPLOYMENT RECOVERY COLLAPSES” (8 Dec 2020) and “POWELL WARNS OF DANGERS FOR LABOR MARKET” (16 Feb 2021), as well as the effect of inflation, in “LABOR AND MATERIALS SHORTAGE RESTRAINING RECOVERY, FED SAYS” (13 Jul 2021).
TREND FORECAST: As we continue to detail, among the reasons there is a shortage of workers is that they no longer want to work for poverty level wages, and after being locked down and having the time to reflect on their lives, many assessed the worthlessness of their jobs in their personal development.
As Gerald Celente has long said, “When people lose everything and have nothing left to lose, they lose it.” Therefore, as socioeconomic conditions continue to deteriorate, “NEW WORLD DISORDER,” one of our 2020 Top Trends, will escalate as billions take to the streets, demonstrating against the lack of basic living standards, crime, violence, and government corruption.