Why are Americans choosing to quit their jobs in record numbers? - YouTube

we've all seen signs in front of shops restaurants  and factories we're hiring help wanted and now  

the omicron variant is taking a toll on the  already depleted workforce we've wondered  

how there can be so many open jobs when nearly  every employer seems to be offering better pay  

benefits and even signing bonuses the government's  jobs report released this past week tells us what  

has happened well over 20 million people  quit their jobs in the second half of 2021  

some are calling it the big quit  others the great resignation  

but who can explain why this is happening  bill whitaker reports he found the best  

place to look for real-time answers is  the huge online job site linkedin which  

calls itself the world's largest professional  network the story will continue in a moment

people have been living to work for a very  long time and i think the pandemic brought  

that moment of reflection for everyone what  do i want to do what makes my heart sing  

and people are thinking if not now then when karen  kimbrough is linkedin's chief economist she has  

degrees from stanford and harvard and a phd from  oxford used to work for the federal reserve and  

now has a bird's eye view of the u.s labor market  we have this unique view of the data we can see  

across millions of members and what they share  with us and we can see from employers millions of  

them that are posting jobs on our platform there  is one person hired every 15 seconds right now  

on linkedin but linkedin's data on who is  leaving jobs is most compelling millions of baby  

boomers retiring early but also millions of gen z  workers people in their teens and early twenties  

many more women than men in all the highest quit  rate since the government started keeping track  

two decades ago at the nationwide level the number  of americans quitting their job is higher than  

ever higher than ever higher than ever do the data  tell you why we can see what sectors people are  

quitting retail sectors and hospitality sectors  it may not just be worth it for some folks and so  

in some cases people are quitting and they're not  yet returning they're taking a break americans are  

burnt out i like to think of it as a take this  job and shove it measure it's just a sign of  

people saying you know i don't need this i'm out  i'm out the most recent data show people quitting  

jobs across the board 4.4 percent of all positions  in education are open over 6 percent in retail and  

more than 8 percent in health care open jobs in  hotels and restaurants are nearly nine percent  

that's almost a million and a half vacant  positions we do have openings and we do  

need more employees carl sobosinski owns several  restaurants in greenville south carolina he needs  

workers both in the kitchen and out front waiting  tables what's the biggest challenge in attracting  

them and keeping the employees it's a problem  that they're just not out there where we are we  

just don't have the workers out there looking for  the jobs construction is another sector without  

enough workers at last count there were nearly 350  thousand open construction jobs nationwide you're  

finding it more difficult to find people right now  absolutely across the board across the board james  

jordan owns a fast-growing construction company in  greenville we doubled our revenue year over year  

we don't have a work problem at all now it's just  a matter of finding the individuals to be able  

to do form the work it's not a work problem  it's a worker problem it's a worker problem  

we came to greenville south carolina after seeing  it on a linkedin data map showing trends of  

geographic migration lots of workers leaving big  cities like san francisco and chicago and lots of  

workers moving to places like austin and miami  and greenville that's another big sign of this  

job market people are moving a lot of people are  just opting because of affordable housing costs  

to choose more affordable places smaller cities  they give you more space will feel safer um and  

people are willing to try something new for what  you'd pay to rent an apartment in san francisco  

you can buy a nice house in greenville it has  attracted big employers like bmw and michelin  

but also tries to nurture small businesses and  startups still you see all the same help wanted  

signs on greenville's main street as you would  in any big city many people believe that generous  

government stimulus and unemployment benefits  are really what's keeping so many workers on the  

sidelines no matter where they live the quick  answer people say is we're still providing too  

many benefits and too many people can sit at home  and and get a check i personally disagree with  

that our associates that didn't come back they're  not sitting at home they found other careers other  

opportunities that fit their lifestyle better  what we saw was that when these benefits were  

turned off when workers were no longer getting  the benefits they did not rush back to work  

what does that tell you that tells me that it's  not just a function of the benefits that's not  

the only thing that's going on in the heads  of workers when they make that calculus about  

should i go back will i go back and for what job  so is all of this producing a fundamental shift in  

the balance of power between employers and  employees it's as if that social contract  

of work is being rewritten and right  now the worker is holding the pen  

there are just thousands upon thousands  of available jobs in america right now  

and companies are eager to hire but workers are  being very choosy so employees are kind of in the  

driver's seat employees are in the driver's seat  right now workers want better pay and benefits  

of course but they're also demanding autonomy and  flexibility particularly in their work schedules  

and employers large and small simply have to  respond i think flexibility is critical this  

is the employee's demand the employees they want  flexibility and if you're an employer that won't  

that won't work with your employees to to be  flexible with them then you're going to be you're  

missing out i mean you have to so is it the case  that gone are the days where an employer would  

say you're just lucky to have this job i think  so i think so and i think it's for the better  

james jordan's construction company will pay an  employee's tuition if they want to continue their  

education perfect timing come on in and their  moving expenses if they relocate and like so  

many employers he's offering signing bonuses and  flexible hours to new hires i understand there was  

one young man one young recruit that you called  every day for two months i did you really wanted  

this young man i did i did did you finally get him  i finally got him he started last week monday what  

a stunning turnaround from the spring of 2020  when the pandemic essentially shut the economy  

down we had never seen anything like it when  you lose 22 million jobs in just two months and  

it's unthinkable kimbrough remembers that working  mothers were and still are among those hardest hit  

as the pandemic robbed them of many of their child  care options what we're seeing now is actually a  

really great story of resilience because we're  seeing more and more women come back into the  

workforce we're still missing a few million women  by the way in the workforce we're not fully there  

still missing a few million women um but we're  seeing them come back and predominantly the women  

that we're missing are parents of young children  they were hit the hardest i just decided to leave  

i had nowhere to go i had no hopes for employment  luckily my husband was gainfully employed and  

i was able to do that but i just walked away  melissa williams walked away from a marketing  

job in greenville in early 2021 when the pandemic  hit she was balancing marriage motherhood and her  

career you know you're part of a trend yes  there's like a fundamental great resignation  

people who are saying and doing what you  did i i can do better than this this isn't  

this isn't fun this isn't me like you said i  hit a wall and i was done was that difficult i  

mean it was it was very scary because i have i've  been employed since i was 17 years old i remember  

going home after i put in my resignation and and  i just sat there on the couch and i was like what  

did i just do i just quit my job i have no  job to go to we have bills we have a child  

we have responsibilities and my husband's  like do you want to go for a walk i was like  

i don't have anything else  to do so we went for a walk

it is challenging to go say i'm a go out on my own  

in general it really does take  some work but people want to have  

control kenzie biggins moved to greenville  in 2017 a few years after she founded works b  

which pairs remote assistance with executives  and companies that need administrative help  

you find executive assistants all over the country  and you team them up with executives and companies  

also all over the country yes so one can be in  greenville and an executive can be in chicago  

yeah it's all about the best pairing for you  kenzie had the idea for workspeed years before the  

pandemic made such arrangements common you were  ahead of the curve and then the curve caught up  

let me just say this i got a lot of crazy looks  for a very long time you know walking into places  

and saying you should have a virtual executive  assistant people looked at me like i had five  

heads they were like what pandemic hits and all  of a sudden you're a genius we went from closing  

three to four people a month to closing 10 to  18 people per month which is quite the jump  

in trying to get people paired and bringing in new  eas americans have really taken a liking to remote  

work they're two and a half times as likely to  apply to a job that's remote versus a job that's  

not remote how's that different from pre-pandemic  so pre-pandemic i think one in every 67 jobs  

was a remote job and now and now it's one in seven  one in seven one in seven jobs is remote now it's  

a huge huge huge rise in mo and i think what it is  is that companies have realized that if they want  

to attract candidates they kind of need to meet  them where they are now works be found me at the  

most opportune time two months after quitting  her office job melissa started with work speed  

the churn rate is finally showing in stripe so  hallelujah she's now an executive assistant for  

three organizations you're working for three  different bosses from home all virtually  

yes it sounds like you could be just as busy  as you were before i am i am just as busy  

the difference is it's my choice  now you have a fourth job i do  

i do i am also an english instructor at greenville  technical college works be and the ability to  

design your work life does that make it possible  for you to now enjoy what seems to be your passion  

absolutely to teach english absolutely if it  had not been for works b i would have never  

been able to even give this a shot the pendulum  of power may soon swing back toward employers  

especially as workers who've quit their jobs  deplete their savings but karen kimbrough  

expects employees to cling to the flexibility  they've fought for i think actually that this  

trend towards having more  flexibility could be permanent  

i honestly can say i don't see  myself going back to an office ever  

ever ever honestly there is no office that could  offer me what i have in my house it's not possible