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The number of people quitting in the US was still high in July, at 4.2 million.
Many of those quitters could be on their second round of job switching since the start of the Great Resignation.
It shows that, despite recession fears, workers are still quitting and employers are still hiring.
It’s still quitting time in America, and it could show that the Great Resignation is entering a new phase.
For over a year, a near-record high number of Americans have thrown in the towel each month. That was true in July, with 4.2 million people quitting, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics out Tuesday. That’s similar to what was seen in June, when 4.3 million people left their jobs.
“Today’s report emphasizes again that we are not in a recession. It just shows that workers have plenty of choices,” AnnElizabeth Konkel, an economist at Indeed, told Insider.
Even as the world and economy changes around workers, one thing stays the same: They’re still quitting. It’s a trend that’s shown no signs of slowing over the past 16 months.
Now, though, the labor market may be entering a new cycle of repeat quits. People who quit might realize their new roles weren’t a match, and are seeking yet another shake up in their careers.
“I actually think there’s an echo boom in quits,” Aaron Terrazas, the chief economist at Glassdoor, told Insider. “We should expect around 12 months after the initial wave of resignations some proportion of workers and employers will realize that it wasn’t a good match — and be back on the market.”
That would align with the data from July, where job openings stayed high at 11.2 million, and 2.7% of the workforce quit. At the same time, 6.4 million people were hired. Those are numbers that run somewhat contrary to what would be expected as the labor market cools and the Federal Reserve turns up the heat — an imminent downturn would likely mean job openings and quits would fall as businesses and workers alike become more cautious.
Even if the quit rate does begin to fall, the ‘echo boom’ of dissatisfied workers could keep the ‘Great Resignation’ alive.
“I was a little bit surprised the job openings rose slightly,” Konkel said, adding, “The quits rate, even though it declined slightly, remains elevated compared to pre-pandemic — showing that workers remain in the driver’s seat.”
Not everyone part of the Great Resignation is happy they quit a former job, with many finding the new job wasn’t what they expected.
“The Great Resignation continues because many people who regret quitting their job started looking for – and landing – a new one recently,” Vicki Salemi, career expert at Monster, previously told Insider in a statement.
Anthony Klotz, the professor who coined the term “Great Resignation,” told Insider’s Aki Ito last October that departing workers might increasingly boomerang back to their old workplaces. Boomeranging is also one reliable way to get a hefty pay raise, suggesting that, even as the power of workers still remains systematically limited, employers are feeling their absence — and are still willing to pay up.
That comes as managers are fretting over “quiet quitting,” where workers simply just do their jobs as written — and employers realize they can’t overwork them. For the workers heading back to their original workplaces, that could mean demands for higher pay and better working conditions.
But if their employers don’t oblige, these workers may find themselves back on the job market again.
“If employers are looking for workers, they have to go back to the drawing board a little bit,” Konkel said.