Millions of Americans have quit their jobs over the past year. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in August 2020 the number of people who resigned in a single month was over 4.2 million while in September, the level reached an all-time record of over 4.3 million.
Many people changed jobs from one company to another for a better wage or improved benefits. Others moved because their previous employer had asked them to return to the office whereas other employers offered the opportunity to work remotely, or they simply wanted a change. Many are still resisting attempts to try to encourage staff to return to offices as the pandemic continues into its third year.
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The pandemic has not only normalized remote work, it has rapidly remodeled the office culture in the U.S. It has prompted some people to rethink their careers and others to commit to a healthier work-life balance. While working remotely during the pandemic, some people moved away from big cities and now find they have no wish to move back. Meanwhile, others found multiple jobs that they are able to perform from anywhere whereas before they had to work close to where they lived. People have also rejected the internet hustle culture which placed dedication to work above everything else and experts say all this is likely to continue into 2022 and beyond.
“We’re in this really big period of flux right now where the pandemic has given people some options and forced people to stop and rest,” said Rahaf Harfoush, author of Hustle and Float: Reclaim your Creativity and Thrive in a World Obsessed with Work. “What we’re starting to see right now is the redrawing of boundaries, where people are saying they no longer want to sacrifice themselves so completely for a job.”
Economists and labor experts are not happy with the popular title given to this period of time – the “Great Resignation”. They say that, in fact, we are experiencing several trends at once with the first and most impactful being the coronavirus, followed by the baby boomers – the generation of over 76 million people who were born between 1946 and 1964. In the year following the end of World War II, there were 20% more babies born than in the previous year. Many baby boomers over the age of 70 had already retired by the time COVID-19 hit while others took the advantage of the pandemic to opt for retirement.
See also: Why millions of Americans quit their jobs
At the same time, the number of people who turn 18 and join the workforce is declining and without immigrants, there is not enough people to replace the baby boomers who are leaving employment. In addition, the birth rates in the U.S. have been decreasing for almost half a century and the United Nations predicts that this trend will not change significantly in the near future.
“A lot of this stuff that’s at a core of a more sustainable work culture for us doesn’t require big-scale institutional change,” said Josh Feldman, who left a vice-presidency job to start his own not-for-profit enterprise. “Instead, it requires a change in how we approach work culture, both as employers and employees. We’re not experiencing a great resignation right now,” he said, “we’re experiencing a great work change.”
