President Joe “Beijing” Biden has really ramped up his rhetoric concerning the "successes" the economy has undergone lately, despite continued rising inflation with no end in sight. Well, he’s really not going to like the latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The “Great Resignation” continued in the month of November as BLS reported that a record 4.5 million people quit their jobs in that month alone. The “quit rate” came in at 3.4 percent, also a “series high.”
Per the BLS report:
The number of quits increased in November to a series high 4.5 million (+370,000). The quits rate increased to 3.0 percent, matching the series high in September. Quits increased in several industries with the largest increases in accommodation and food services (+159,000); health care and social assistance (+52,000); and transportation, warehousing, and utilities (+33,000). The number of quits increased in the Northeast, South, and Midwest regions.
Based on the information above, everywhere west of the Rocky Mountains saw an increase of people quitting their jobs.
The New York Post published a quote from the economic research director at Indeed Hiring Lab, Nick Bunker.
“Lots of quits means stronger worker bargaining power which will likely feed into strong wage gains,” said Bunker. “Wage growth was very strong in 2021, and if we keep seeing the quits rate near 3 percent, we might see more of the same in 2022.”
I’m no economist, but wouldn’t logic dictate that if a large portion of people quitting are leaving low-paying jobs, then the average wage of people who are working would go up? That’s precisely the point Bunker is making, essentially saying that people quitting their jobs is a net positive.
And who’s to say that the people quitting possibly low-paying jobs are doing so because they’d rather make their own medical decisions than be forced to take a medical procedure in order to keep said job?
I mean, look at Starbucks. They just initiated a policy on Monday that requires all of their “roughly 220,000” employees to be vaccinated or face weekly testing. Now, I’m not saying that people are quitting their Starbucks jobs en masse, but would you want to pour people coffee for a lower wage and have to undergo a medical procedure to for the “privilege” of doing so?