Record Job Departures, Soaring Pay Herald a Low-wage Worker Revolution
November 30, 2021 | Brian Scheid and Michael O’Connor | Market Intelligence
Low-wage workers are leaving their jobs in record numbers in search of better pay and working conditions, signaling a potentially historic transformation in labor bargaining power.
More than 4.4 million Americans, roughly 3% of the domestic labor force, quit their jobs in September, according to the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The percentage of U.S. workers who leave their jobs voluntarily, known as the “quit rate,” is now at its highest level since the bureau began tracking the metric more than 20 years ago and has increased steadily since May, as more than 20.2 million workers have since left their jobs.
The starkest changes are taking place in sectors battered by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in leisure and hospitality and retail jobs, where workers are quitting at record rates and employers are attempting to lure them back with higher pay and better working conditions.
