Mad Men
| 4.3 million people quit their jobs in the US in August, the Labor Department said yesterday. That’s an astronomical amount—the most on record—and represents nearly 3% of the workforce. Where are workers quitting the most? ° 892,000 workers left restaurants, bars, and hotels. ° 721,000 left their retail gigs. ° 706,000 ditched their jobs in professional business services and 534,000 in health care and social assistance. What’s going on? In an economy where jobs are plentiful and the people to fill them are scarce, workers are finding themselves with much more leverage. If their jobs are uber stressful, require long hours for low pay, and pose a greater risk of contracting Covid-19, there’s little incentive to stick around. Just look at the number of people quitting the hospitality and retail industries. Big picture: This is all a major headache for employers, who have to raise wages and dangle more benefits to find anyone to work for them. Businesses had 10.4 million job openings in the country in August, down from July’s record of 11.1 million but still extremely elevated.—NF |