Worker Retention

Economy & Inflation
Written By Tamika Turner

The rate at which workers are quitting jobs is at all-time highs. Since January 2021, 56 million workers have quit jobs. 

Quits rate by industry

Dec 2000 - Feb 2022

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics. Notes: The quits rate is the number of quits during the entire month as a percent of total employment. Quits include employees who left voluntarily except retirements or transfers to other locations. Data is seasonally adjusted. Feb 2022 data is preliminary.

Since June 2021, more than 4 million employees have quit their jobs every month. The quits rate has been highest in leisure and hospitality (5.6% in February) and in retail (4.9% in February). Workers are retiring in larger numbers than would be normal given the aging of the baby boomers. An estimated 2.4 million “excess” retirements occurred between the beginning of the pandemic and August 2021.1 Many of these are women over 65 who may have retired due to fears of Covid or due to in-home elder care responsibilities.2,3 In addition, 1 million parents of young children quit jobs in March due to lack of childcare and an estimated 1.6 million workers are sidelined each month because of long Covid symptoms (Child Care Disruptions).4 10 out of 12 Southern states have among the highest estimated long COVID infection rates (Long Covid). With fewer people in the labor market, workers are increasingly demanding higher wages and better working conditions.5 A groundswell of grassroots organizing has led to workers voting to organize across Starbucks stores and Amazon warehouses.6,7,8

  1. “The COVID Retirement Boom”. Castro. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. October, 2021. https://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/economic-synopses/2021/10/15/the-covid-retirement-boom 

  2. “The Great Retirement: Who Are the Retirees?” Rodgers III, Ricketts. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. January, 2022. https://www.stlouisfed.org/on-the-economy/2022/january/great-retirement-who-are-retirees 

  3. “Demand for In-Home Care Rises During Coronavirus”. Ansberry. The Wall Street Journal. April, 2020. https://www.wsj.com/articles/demand-for-in-home-care-rises-during-coronavirus-11588003076 

  4. “Is ‘long Covid’ worsening the labor shortage?” Bach. Brookings. January, 2022. https://www.brookings.edu/research/is-long-covid-worsening-the-labor-shortage/?utm_campaign=Brookings%20Brief&utm_medium=email&utm_content=200588850&utm_source=hs_email

  5. “Hunt for Cheap Labor Gets More Expensive for Corporate America”. Gupta. Bloomberg. January, 2022. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-07/hunt-for-cheap-labor-gets-more-expensive-for-corporate-america 

  6. “How Two Best Friends Beath Amazon”. Kantor, Weise. The New York Times. April, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/02/business/amazon-union-christian-smalls.html?fbclid=IwAR11xPvDmq8rdQjMrgEzqGvjifks-ayrBCoBQ_RU_eFS1gX2D_TsCkUVS4s

  7. “Union files objections to Amazon’s actions in Bessemer, AL election”. Clark. The Verge. April, 2022. https://www.theverge.com/2022/4/7/23015822/union-objections-amazon-bessemer-alabama-election-redo 

  8. “How a bunch of Starbucks baristas built a labor movement”. Molla. Vox. April, 2022. https://www.vox.com/recode/22993509/starbucks-successful-union-drive

Tamika Turner
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