According to a recently published report, about 4 million workers in the US quit their jobs this April.
This is the highest number of resignations in a month in the last 20 years, and experts are attributing this to a number of factors.
Factor 1: Severe labour shortage has given people the confidence to leave their jobs.
In March 2021, for every job opening in the US, there were 1.4 available workers; if we consider the average of the last 20 years, the US had 2.8 workers per available job.
In some sectors (like education, public health, etc.), there are more job openings than available workers, and this means there are plenty of opportunities if an employee decides to quit.
The labour shortage is being attributed to immigration restrictions, increasing government-led unemployment benefits (COVID-19), and hard-to-find childcare (COVID-19).
Factor 2: Work from home (WFH) means big companies are expanding everywhere.
WFH means no geographical constraint, and so, an employee may get offered higher pay from a company in another state or another country.
This adds to the total jobs available even more.
Factor 3: Mental stress because of the pandemic.
In a survey, many workers cited the coronavirus as a primary reason for their unhappiness on the job and their ultimate departure.
A lot of people quit because of the fear of carrying coronavirus home, especially where colleagues and managers were lax about the mask rules.
Factor 4: Rage-quitting (angrily abandoning the job).
A McDonald’s employee recently quit his job and made his rage evident by posting an angry sign at a local drive-thru; this has brought attention to the rising rage-quitting trend as well.
Rage-quitting is particularly prominent among the hourly workers (who get paid based on the number of hours and don’t have fixed pay) in low-wage occupations like retail.
E.g., Considering the factors mentioned above, someone making US$8 per hour and getting 10 hours in a week is no longer ready to put up with an unfavourable work environment.
