"The number of Americans quitting their jobs has hit record highs over the past several months in a phenomenon economists have been calling the “Great Resignation.” In August, 4.3 million U.S. workers — almost 3 percent of the entire American workforce — voluntarily left their positions, the highest number since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking “quits” in 2020." 3% of the workforce QUIT in one month?? Said to be a shift in the POWER DYNAMIC between employees and employers. I wonder what the hell that means? See: https://frontier.yahoo.com/news/why-american-workers-are-quitting-in-record-numbers-151116968.html
As I understand it, it has been a combination of things causing it. One, many of the workers that worked through the increased "unemployment benefits" were worked beyond their limits. Since so many stayed home to enjoy doing nothing and getting paid for it, the ones who worked were worked to death and have now reached their limits. A second reason is the fear/anger over the vax mandate. Nurses particularly are feeling this as they worked through the worst of the Covid pandemic and are now suffering the possibility of being fired because they won't submit to the shot even though many of them have already had the disease and now have natural immunity. A third reason is just the screwed up economy and people don't want to work as the wages they receive decrease in value on almost a daily basis. There may be other reasons, but those are some I have heard.
One reason for some of them might be the recent trend for employers who are offering big sign on bonuses. It’s a known fact that employers are having a hard time finding enough people to work their businesses so a lot of them are offering sign on bonuses but giving nothing extra in the paychecks of the loyal employees who have rode the wave. Someone signs on and 60-90 days later gets a check with 3 zeros on it leaving the loyal employee asking the question, “what about me”? One other thing might be happening especially in the Food and Beverage field. Front of house employees are almost exclusively tipped employees which is where they derive the majority of their livelihood. Back of house employees are all hourly or salaried but no matter how one makes their money in a restaurant, they were all without work for months during the shutdown making many to wonder if their career of choice is all that it’s cracked up to be. It used to be that if one were experienced in any aspect of food and beverage, no matter what happened in this world people still have to eat and will inevitably eat out but the pandemic proved that all wrong. Even during the Great Depression, restaurants remained a good and secure job to have but now, not so much. Long story short, many of the people who relied on the security of restaurant work have ventured out to learn another line of work. Our local community college (Calhoun College) is reporting an uptick in enrollment which sort of verifies that there are more people looking for a more secure and profitable change of career paths.
Pretty much everyone has HELP WANTED signs up now. I would think about taking a job at our local grocery store, since they pay fairly well, but they've gone back to mandating masks for employees, and they don't pay well enough for me to wear a mask for eight hours a day.
@Bobby Cole raises a good point. Record numbers are quitting, but are they going elsewhere? And are their employers hiring replacements? Perhaps they are just shuffling around.