Why a record number of Americans are leaving their jobs

American workers are leaving their jobs in droves.

The Labor Department said the number of Americans quitting their jobs jumped to 4.3 million in August, the highest on records dating back to December 2000, and up from 4 million in July. 

The Wall Street Journal reports that “U.S. workers left their jobs nearly 20 million times between April and August this year, according to the latest federal data, a number more than 60% higher than the resignations handed in during the same period last year, and 12% above the spring and summer of 2019 when the job market was the hottest it had been in almost 50 years. The data doesn’t count retirements but includes people who have quit jobs for any number of reasons, such as taking a job elsewhere, going back to school, leaving to care of a family member or simply taking a break. The data also includes people who may have quit multiple times, for instance leaving a job on a college campus in May and then quitting a summer job in August.”

Why are workers quitting?

Experts trying to determine the root causes of the exodus, cite everything from extended unemployment insurance to a child-care crisis to vaccine mandates.

The data strongly suggests that the coronavirus is playing a large role in why Americans are leaving their jobs. 

A sign that fears of COVID is playing a large role is that workers are leaving their jobs in heavily concentrated sectors that involve close contact with the public. Many people may have quit even without a replacement job.

As COVID-19 cases surged, the number of workers quitting their jobs jumped in restaurants and hotels and rose in other public-facing jobs, such as retail and education.

The number of people quitting their jobs rose the most in the South and Midwest, the government data shows, the two regions with the worst COVID outbreaks in August.

‘This [pandemic] has been going on for so long, it’s affecting people mentally, physically. All those things are continuing to make people be reflective of their life and career and their jobs. Add to that over 10 million openings, and if I want to go do something different it’s not terribly hard to do, said Danny Nelms, president of the Work Institute

Hiring in September was weak for a second straight month, the government said, with only 194,000 jobs added, though the unemployment rate fell to 4.8% from 5.2%.

What should employers do?

Good management can play a critical role in keeping employees from leaving. Gallup found that it took a pay raise of more than 20% to hire most employees away from a leader who engaged them. Women with highly empathetic managers have experienced less Covid-19 related burnout, according to a study released by Catalyst, a nonprofit focused on women’s advancement at work. The Catalyst survey also found 57% of white women and 62% of women of color who feel their life circumstances are respected and valued by their company have never or rarely thought of leaving.

Employers seeking to keep employees from leaving should also expand remote-work options, according to a new survey by McKinsey & Co, the global management consulting firm.

“Executives who mishandle the transition to a hybrid-work model or fail to offer one are at risk of losing otherwise satisfied employees,” said McKinsey. “Our latest employer and employee survey results unveiled that almost 90 percent of employees who took new jobs didn’t have to relocate because so many more companies are “location agnostic.”

Why this is good news for workers

The large increase of people leaving in August likely reflects the fact that with employers desperate for workers and raising wages, many workers feel they can get better pay elsewhere. When workers quit, it is typically seen as a good sign for the job market, because people typically leave jobs when they already have other positions or are confident, they can find one. 

While August resignations hit a record high, before the pandemic people were also quitting at high rates during the hot job market of 2019, as they switched to better opportunities, said Anthony Klotz, professor of business administration at Mays Business School at Texas A&M University.

“Everybody quitting is saying, ‘I became part of the Great Resignation'”, he said. “Some of you were going to quit anyway if this was a normal year.”

Irv Randolph is an award-winning journalist. You can follow him on Twitter @IrvRandolph and at the RandolphReport@substack.com