Job Switching Hits Record During Pandemic Recovery

DOL says a record 4.4 million people have quit their jobs this year, thereby helping to fuel the tight labor market in which 11 million openings far exceed the 7.4 million workers now unemployed. How can this be? Job-switching, you say?

That would be a good guesstimate, one human resources expert told the WSJ. “The vast majority of the quitting we’ve seen in 2021 has been job switching,” he said. “Industries that usually hire people out of work may have shifted their approach towards poaching” too. The biggest switchers have been in warehousing, shipping and retail as those employers have competed with one another with bonus offerings, higher wages & better benefits.

Meanwhile, the WSJ noted, “labor-force participation, or the share of working-age people employed or looking for work, has remained lower than normal despite strong job growth during the [pandemic] recovery.” With the seasonal holidays approaching, the job switching phenomena & tight labor market are expected to worsen.

Davd Soul