Workers Who Quit Their Jobs Could Improve U.S. Productivity
People are leaving their workplaces in record numbers. That could push employers to raise wages as well as invest more in training and labor-saving technology.
They may have a lot of options for a change.
Photographer: Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images
Job growth has sharply weakened over the past several months, but it’s not — mostly — due to a lack of hiring. Instead, what we’re seeing is an unprecedented amount of churn in the job market. This is a painful experience for employers but it also sets the stage for a reversal of trends that have dominated the U.S. labor market since the dot-com crash in 2000.
In August, the latest month for which we have data, employers hired 6.3 million workers; that’s down only slightly from the 6.4 million they hired in the same month one year ago, when payrolls soared by 1.6 million. The difference this year is in the number of “quits.”