Dr. David Childs, D.D., Ph.D.
Northern Kentucky University 
Getty; Adam Maida / The Atlantic
Introduction
Have you noticed lately that when you go to many public places there seems to be a shortage of staffing (Not to mention a lack of product and materials, but that is for a different article). In terms of a shortage of staffing, when we go to our local grocery store to do shopping there are very few workers available to check out our items. Or when we go to a fast food restaurant the lines are unusually long. Further, when receiving or sending mail through the United States Postal Service, it seems that it has been taking longer than usual to receive or send packages or letters. This labor shortage is in many ways connected to the ongoing and relentless pandemic and its devastating impact on our economy. It has been a perfect storm. Workers in sectors such as the meat packing industry, the shipping industry and warehouses began to be sick from the pandemic which resulted in a shortage of workers. Further, when the world was in quarantine and people either lost their jobs or worked from home, they no longer accepted the fact that they needed to be on site daily to get work done or had to accept low wages for a thankless job. All in all, we are experiencing the global effects of people simply deciding not to come to work. Experts are calling this phenomenon the Great Resignation. Derek Thompson, in his October Atlantic article entitled “The Great Resignation Is Accelerating” states that “a lasting effect of this pandemic will be a revolution in worker expectation.”
Getty- Forbes.com
“The Great Resignation Is Accelerating”
Thompson offers more insight on this phenomenon in his article. He states “I first noticed that something weird was happening this past spring. In April, the number of workers who quit their job in a single month broke an all-time U.S. record. Economists called it the “Great Resignation.” But America’s quittin’ spirit was just getting started. In July, even more people left their job. In August, quitters set yet another record. That Great Resignation? It just keeps getting greater. “Quits,” as the Bureau of Labor Statistics calls them, are rising in almost every industry. For those in leisure and hospitality, especially, the workplace must feel like one giant revolving door. Nearly 7 percent of employees in the “accommodations and food services” sector left their job in August. That means one in 14 hotel clerks, restaurant servers, and barbacks said sayonara in a single month. Thanks to several pandemic-relief checks, a rent moratorium, and student-loan forgiveness, everybody, particularly if they are young and have a low income, has more freedom to quit jobs they hate and hop to something else… As I wrote in the spring, quitting is a concept typically associated with losers and loafers. But this level of quitting is really an expression of optimism that says, We can do better… Since the 1980s, Americans have quit less, and many have clung to crappy jobs for fear that the safety net wouldn’t support them while they looked for a new one. But Americans seem to be done with sticking it out. And they’re being rewarded for their lack of patience: Wages for low-income workers are rising at their fastest rate since the Great Recession. The Great Resignation is, literally, great. For workers, that is… Job openings are sky-high. Many positions are going unfilled for months. Meanwhile, supply chains are breaking down because of a hydra of bottlenecks. Running a company requires people and parts. With people quitting and parts missing, it must kinda suck to be a boss right now. (Oh, well!).”
Conclusion
Indeed this phenomenon is like nothing we have ever experienced in our lifetime. Often workers (Especially low wage employees) have had very little autonomy or control over their labor or conditions at the job. But for the first time they feel empowered to explore other options. If you want to read more on this topic you can read the rest of Thompson’s article. You can also read Thompson’s more recent article entitled Three Myths of the Great Resignation. Also please see other articles below about the Great Resignation.
Other articles on the Great Resignation
Great Resignation
What Quitters Understand About the Job Market
The Great Resignation: Why People Are Leaving Their Jobs In Growing Numbers
Why are so many Americans quitting their jobs?
From The Great Resignation To The Great Migration
The Great Resignation gets even greater
Quitting is just half the story: the truth behind the ‘Great Resignation’
Another 4.5 million workers quit in the 8th month of record exits, and it shows how the Great Resignation is here to stay
Great Resignation: The number of people quitting jobs hit an all-time high in November as openings stayed near record
Resignation nation: Record number of Americans quit their jobs before the holidays
Help Wanted: Where Are The Workers?
Low Pay, No Benefits, Rude Customers: Restaurant Workers Quit At Record Rate
As The Pandemic Recedes, Millions Of Workers Are Saying ‘I Quit’
I think it is a problem that it took the pandemic for there to be a realization that workers were receiving poor wages. I do not fault people for not wanting to work for the bare minimum.
At the beginning of the pandemic, jobs were either closing or going virtual. The only places that were open were grocery stores and restaurants (some of them). Now that we are in the later stages of covid, I’ve noticed that some of those workers that lefts, never came back. Leaving their roles to be filled. I’ve also noticed that some jobs are so desperate for people to work, they have up their pay, they have put interview flyers in their shopping bags, etc
I thought this article covered a great deal on what is actually going on in today’s workforce and I can relate to it in several ways. At the beginning of the pandemic I lost my job just like you had mentioned others had to deal with. Also, you mentioned the warehouses becoming sick which is something I see first hand daily. I work at Amazon and for months there is a new Covid-19 case in my building literally every other day. Unfortunately, I wish I could say this is an exaggeration, but it isn’t. Even through all of this, they have mandated and unmandated masks for those with the vaccine 3 times now.
I see the Great Resignation as both a positive and negative. It states in the article that workers now feel “empowered to explore other options.” I think it is great that low wage employees are finally having the autonomy to stand up for the pay and working conditions that they deserve, and they are not settling for that “safety net” job. However, I do think it is not a good thing for our economy. I have seen many businesses close because they do not have enough workers to stay open. I think if this spirit of quitting continues then many restaurants and stores may have to shut down. If we want to see these restaurants and stores running smoothly again, I think it all starts with companies putting a higher value on their workers.
I have noticed that many places are understaffed, my store being one of them. It really hits us hard having such low staff members, making it to where some days we must do the work of two or three people. Along with not having as much staff, when we do hire someone on, they quit almost as quickly as they were hired. Sadly, I think some people just don’t feel the need to be as professional in the work place in anymore.
Where are all of the Workers? The Great Resignation Explained by David Childs answers the question many of us have been asking for the past couple of years: “Where are all the workers?” I relate to this article because I am constantly baffled at the lack of people working grocery stores and restaurants. Recently, I went to an Olive Garden on a Tuesday night and waited an hour and a half to be seated because of a staff shortage. Although this was aggravating, Childs offers a positive outlook on the staff shortage situation. What I like most about this article is that it ends on an uplifting note when Childs mentions that these workers feel “empowered to explore other options” (Childs). However, I still wonder when things will get back to normal. Will it be once the pandemic ends? Or will it be long after? These are still questions I hope to
have answered.
I recently read an article written by Derek Thompson in 2019 entitled, “Workism Is Making Americans Miserable.” Thompson states that no developed country of comparable production averages more hours of work a year than the United States. He also goes on to discuss the value that young adults place on work, to the extent of being their identity. I thought about that while reading about “The Great Resignation”. I have often heard that the reason for this influx in quitting revolves around unemployment checks distributed during the beginning of the covid pandemic and that now “nobody wants to work.” I would argue that what we are seeing is an intersection of young, overworked Americans, whose sole purpose is tied to a career they enjoy, now having the opportunity to pursue new career paths.
It is my opinion that this Great Resignation has been a long time coming. The working class are sick and tired (both figuratively AND literally) of being trod upon by society at large. The backbone of our country is the essential worker, and that backbone has been broken for a while now. It is time the bones are reset.
As an “essential worker” during this pandemic, that seems to never be ending, this article grabbed my attention immediately. I am a Respiratory Therapist at a local hospital and not only in my department, but in every area of the hospital, we are short handed. There are dozens of job openings in every department. The ones who have remained loyal, are starting to go to other hospitals because they are paying more or paying more “crisis money.” The companies are getting extreme amounts of government money for the pandemic and some are choosing not to give it to the employees that have worked the frontlines of the pandemic.
Wow Taylor. Thanks for this incredible insight.
This article also grabbed my attention with working in retail myself. Every day is a struggle at my job with not having enough employees to run a store and to help take care of the customers. When we were required to shut down due to the pandemic, we are now bankrupt and barely surviving. I hope “The Great Resignation” will end soon, and business and the employees can go back to normal.