Flexing their new found power in a tight job market, more than 4.4 million Americans voluntarily left their jobs in September as employers reported more than 10 million open positions available, CNN reports. Workers are leaving high stress/low compensation positions for other jobs.
Available positions increased in the health care sector and in state and local government, while open jobs in the hospitality, arts, entertainment and recreation industry decreased as the seasonal surge ebbed. Also dropping: quits in state and local government education as teachers and other educators leave their positions as schools push in-person teaching. In Republican-led states, schools are not enforcing protections against the spread of COVID.
“The pace of people quitting across the labor market is remarkable,” Nick Bunker, director of economic research at the Indeed Hiring Lab, said, “but the concentration among a few sectors is eye-popping. Quits are up the most in sectors where most work is in-person or relatively low paying.”