Quits Rate at Another All-Time High

How many of those people had found new jobs or did all of them apply for unemployment benefits?

iluvatar5150 said:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/10/12/jolts-workers-quitting-august-pandemic/

Quits: Total Nonfarm

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Also, back in August, Delta was surging.

Back then, it was looking quite a significant risk (and was indeed a real risk for the unvaccinated).

But it's been found that typically the Covid virus variants usually seem to surge for about 2 months roughly in an area, like a state or region, and then go down.

So, we are looking back at August, and now that factor of surging Delta is subsiding, and that might mean that right now in October, some significant number of people are returning to the job market, possibly. We'll have to wait a while to see whether it's a large number, since these reports take so long to come out. ( One thing we can look at sooner than the overall month employment number is the weekly new unemployment claims, though it's not the same at all, it still may give a partial indication of the general direction.

One caveat about the surge subsiding.

While the Delta surge is going down in the U.S. as a whole, it's still a real challenge in some areas that are less vaccinated and now getting some cool weather pushing people to gather indoors, the upper western states.

Hank77 said:

How many of those people had found new jobs or did all of them apply for unemployment benefits?

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If you quit, you're not getting unemployment benefits.

You're both correct of course but that doesn't stop people from applying and trying to get it anyway.

iluvatar5150 said:

Outside of a couple exceptions, you're typically not eligible for UI if you quit voluntarily.

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trunks2k said:

If you quit, you're not getting unemployment benefits.

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I will summarize the issue:

They don't pay enough to make it worth it to deal with the ignorant public while also dealing with a virus.

Hopefully this forces the bigger chains to start paying their workers a decent wage and providing suitable work environments. I worked for one of them as a teenager and I will say it was by far the most stressful, demanding job I ever had by an incredible margin. I know some people lack job skills, but man these larger corporations should be able to do a lot better. It is disgusting what human greed is so easily capable of.

iluvatar5150 said:

I'd love to see a mass movement to stabilize and limit the algorithmic scheduling that many large chains use. Jerking people around is almost worse sometimes than paying them less.

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I think you are seeing the cause and effect relationship of what eventually happens.

People eventually find something better to do.

The human element in the labor force is all too often ignored or taken for granted. In certain conditions, human workers are largely predictable. But when factors are as out of whack as they've been due to the pandemic, human reactions are harder to predict and models fall apart.

That's what we're seeing happen now. For a while, they were blaming the extended federal unemployment; some still blame state unemployment. But the reality is that it's not nearly that simple. People are seeing things differently. The illusion of a "secure" job or "secure" industry has been shattered. People are getting the kick in the rear they probably needed years ago and taking risks (now that they're forced to) that they should have years ago. They are re-evaluating their lives, what's important in life, what's less important, what actually pays off (not financially but in life success) and where money does not compensate for devalued quality of life.

There will be a giagantic realigning of the labor force - well, it IS happening right now, and we're seeing it. It's like a market "correction" but in the labor market and it's long overdue. The fact that there has been no inflation in so long is a clear indicator of stagnation and the key to becoming productive again is to let the labor market shake out based on the decisions of the workers themselves.

The reason it is worrying people is because they don't understand it and the economics pundits can't explain it based on their current models, but they are adapting too.

MehGuy said:

Hopefully this forces the bigger chains to start paying their workers a decent wage and providing suitable work environments. I worked for one of them as a teenager and I will say it was by far the most stressful, demanding job I ever had by an incredible margin. I know some people lack job skills, but man these larger corporations should be able to do a lot better. It is disgusting what human greed is so easily capable of.

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Pre-pandemic American society was treating unskilled and blue collar workers like garbage, and I think alot of people have just had enough of it. Especially as they've been disconnected more during the pandemic, and more able to reflect on their lives.