The Not-So-Great Resignation
I came across some numbers from The Great Resignation that were surprising to me. Let me know what you think.
“[In January 2022,] only 62.2 percent of working-age Americans either had a job or were actively looking for one. In February 2020 – right before the pandemic struck the labor force – the participation rate was 63.4 percent.” (Aljazeera, link below)
First of all, I was shocked at the low number – only around 60% of working-age people have a job (or even want one)? That’s a lot of people that don’t work! I hadn’t realized there were so many non-workers.
And then I wondered about that phrase “working-age” – what exactly does that mean? Are they counting everyone who is qualified to work? I do know a lot of 16- and 17-year-olds who don’t work. And what is the upper limit? Are they going to 75? We know a lot of people decided to retire earlier than originally planned because of the pandemic.
So I followed the rabbit-hole that is the internet and went to the source of this data – the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the answer to my age questions. (In fact, they didn’t mention the term “working age” at all, but I did the math, and these figures are not for the entire population of the US, so at least there’s that.) What they did have was these interesting facts:
A total of 165.7 million persons worked at some point during 2020, down by 3.0 million from the pre-pandemic level in 2019. (See table 1.)
The proportion of workers who worked full time, year-round fell from 70.2 percent in 2019 to 63.1 percent in 2020. (See table 1.)
The "work-experience unemployment rate"—defined as the number of persons unemployed at some time during the year as a proportion of the number of persons who worked or looked for work during the year—nearly doubled to 15.7 percent in 2020. (See table 3.)
About 2.9 million individuals looked for a job but did not work at all in 2020, up from 2.0 million in 2019.
The United States had 3 million people who probably worked in 2019 and did not in 2020. That’s the big resignation. That’s all. I mean, it’s a big number, but it’s way smaller than I had imagined. (Not that I had a specific number in my head, but 1% of the population doesn’t really seem like that much in the grand scheme of things.)
On the other hand, having an almost 10% decline from full-time work to part-time work… that’s significant. And it’s hard to say whether it’s a good thing (employers couldn’t afford to keep them on full-time but were able to do some part-time hours) or whether it’s not (cynically, some employers are very willing to take advantage of people and situations and might use this as an excuse to decrease costs – and especially benefits).
There does also seem to be a bit more turnover than in the past (bullet 3) and more trepidation? about taking on a new position (bullet 4).
So yes, there are some places – obviously – where it is harder to find workers. And workers are being pickier about the offers they accept. But it’s really only about 2% of the workforce. (And some of that number may be workers who decided to retire earlier than anticipated – though probably not truly “early”.) I’m sure it feels large if you’re one of the organizations/industries being affected by the shortage, but this seems like a situation that can be overcome. (If you need help, let me know!)
Why this gap still remains is up for some debate. Beyond the usual – fear of Covid, burnout (for oh-so-many reasons), and just being tired of being underappreciated – the article linked below note:
“Beyond politics, policy and demographics, other forces are at work as well. Women, for instance, have faced particularly difficult choices as COVID-19 restrictions shut down schools during much of 2020 and part of 2021. More often than not in a two-income household, the mother has taken the hit, trying to work from home and monitor children struggling with remote learning.” (Aljazeera)
I’ll note that most children are back in school full-time now. However… the stresses of Covid are not gone. Children are still being asked to quarantine away from school, sometimes accruing many weeks of essentially being absent. (Different school districts have different ways of handling these situations, but no matter the method, we know that children learn better when they are in school in-person. Parents are taking on the additional burden of helping their children keep up (or catch up) on their schooling as well as physically taking time away from work – or from other household tasks that need doing.) Parents in areas with high cases of Covid may not be able to focus on their work – or may be required to take more days off (or to work from home more often than is mandated/”suggested”), and these can all affect their standing at the office.
This gender disparity – mother’s taking on more of the burder – was reflected in January’s jobs report: “The labor force participation rate for men was 67.9 percent, compared with 56.8 percent for women.” (Aljazeera)
Which brings us to: What can you do about it?
Offer reasonable wages (and benefits when possible)
Also offer flexibility (perhaps part-time work is desired, job-sharing, flex-time, remote work opportunities) – What do your job candidates want? How do you know? Are you asking them? Are you asking the people who you wish would be applying?
Make your organization more desirable – Do you have a positive and supportive corporate culture? Are you talking about it and promoting the fact? What else could you do to be a place where people would want to work? How do you know? (Who are you asking?)
If you need (or want) assistance in figuring out how to better position yourself in the jobs market, give me a call. I have extensive expertise in helping organizations discover where they should be recruiting, how they should be talking about themselves, and then choosing great candidates to be part of their long-term team. I’d love to help you.
https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/2/11/where-have-all-the-us-workers-gone-will-they-come-back