2023Jobs Report

Written By Digital Content Editor Thomas Ahearn

The “Great Resignation” where high numbers of U.S. workers resigned from their jobs continued to slow down although more than 4 million workers quit in May 2023 – the first month to top 4 million “Quits” in 2023 – according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The JOLTS defines “Quits” as voluntary separations initiated by the employee and “Quits Rate” as the number of quits as a percent of total employment. Both can serve as a measure of the willingness or ability of workers to leave their jobs. In May 2023, there were roughly 4,015,000 “Quits” and the “Quits Rate” rose to 2.6 percent.

“Quits” also topped 4 million per month in December 2022, November 2022, October 2022, September 2022, August 2022, July 2022, June 2022, May 2022, April 2022, March 2022, February 2022, January 2022, December 2021, and November 2021. The JOLTS for June 2023 is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, August 1, 2023.

Despite the rise in “Quits,” experts say the phenomenon of the “Great Resignation” is over as “ten straight interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, slowing wage growth, stubborn inflation, and mass layoffs in some industries may be causing Americans to stay put,” according to a report from CNN published in June 2023.

“The great resignation, by really any measure, is over,” a professor of economics at Stanford University who studies labor told CNN. “While the combination of a tight labor market and structural change from the pandemic catalyzed job reshuffling over the past three years, that’s moved into the window of history now,” he said. 

“As record-breaking resignation numbers continue to rise in the United States, employers are wondering why their employees are so quick to quit their jobs and how to keep them from leaving,” ClearStar, a leading global Human Resources (HR) technology company, noted in a blog titled “The Great Resignation of 2021.”

“Listening to employees and their desires for their careers is the first step to developing lasting relationships with them. The resignations could be a result of the effects of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, low pay, and benefits, new job opportunities, or a mix of all of the above,” ClearStar suggested in the blog.

“An employer who accommodates their employees with remote work (if needed) and shows interest in trying to help them find something they enjoy doing in their job is likely to build a relationship with their employees that they are not so quick to abandon,” ClearStar concluded. The complete blog is available here.

Employment Screening Resources (ESR) is a service offering of ClearStar, a leading global HR technology company specializing in background checks, drug testing, and occupational health screening. ClearStar offers pre-employment screening to help replace workers who have quit their jobs. To learn more, contact ClearStar.

Employment Screening Resources (ESR) – a service offering of ClearStar – does not provide or offer legal services or legal advice of any kind or nature. Any information on this website is for educational purposes only.

© 2023 Employment Screening Resources (ESR) – A Service Offering of ClearStar – Making copies of or using any part of the ESR News Blog or ESR website for any purpose other than your own personal use is prohibited unless written authorization is first obtained from ESR.

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