Americans Have Stopped Quitting Jobs But Will It Last

Following one of the longer-lasting effects of Americans quitting their jobs as a result of the pandemic, workers are now sticking with their jobs instead of quitting them.

With more workers continuing their respective jobs the labor market cools as the economy battles a steady climb of interest rates.

In April, 3.8 million Americans left their jobs, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. The amount, a decrease of 700,000 from 4.5 million compared to November of 2021.

Meanwhile, the quits rate—the number of resignations as a share of total employment — dropped to 2.4 percent in April. When looking at rates from a year ago, the current rate is not much better than the 3 percent quits rate in April 2022.

The decline in voluntary departures is a sure indication of a softer labor market, however, with unemployment rates continuing to rise or remain stagnate — as is the case for the recent month of June where the seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate remained unchanged at 1.2 percent for the week ending June 24 — the market only continues to grow at a slow pace, if at all.

Posted July 10, 2023.