Record High Number of U.S Workers Quitting; New Job Openings Fall for September

The number of U.S workers quitting their jobs voluntarily has reached a record high for the month of September whereas job openings remained on the lower level. This reflects to the fact that many businesses are increasing wage levels in hopes to bring in more employees.

According to the Labor Department’s JOLTS report, a shortage of goods and labor is prevalent with high inflation levels. The rise in wages is also seen to be resistant even with covid infections rates. Employers are struggling to lure new workers due to supply shortage which was seen before the pandemic period.

The increased demand for workers has led to wage inflation of 4.9% for October. The number of people who willingly quit their jobs increased by 164,000 in September, adding to the overall number of 4.4 million. According to reports, the entertainment industry saw around 56,000 people quit their jobs, and the services industry saw around 47,000 people quit. On the other hand, around 30,000 people quit their jobs in state and government institutions.

Michael Pearce, senior U.S economist at Capital Economics stated, “The continued surge in quits points to wage growth of between 4.5% to 5.0%, well above rates that would be consistent with inflation falling sustainably back towards the Fed’s 2% target.” The Federal Reserve has avoided implementing any aggressive measure to tackle the rising inflation rate and continues to agree it may be transitory.

The government reported that nonfarm payrolls increase for the month of October by 531,000 with gains of 312,000 in the last month. It is expected that the shortage of labor could possibly last a while despite delta infections rates declining.

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