What Quitters Understand About the Job Market
More Americans are telling their boss to shove it. Is the workplace undergoing a revolution—or just a post-pandemic spasm?
Quitting your job is hot this summer. More Americans quit in May than any other month on record going back to the beginning of the century, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For every 100 workers in hotels, restaurants, bars, and retailers, about five of them quit last month.
Low-wage workers aren’t the only ones eyeing the door. In May, more than 700,000 workers in the bureau’s mostly white-collar category of “professional and business services” left their job—the highest monthly number ever. Across all sectors and occupations, four in 10 employees now say they’ve considered peacing out of their current place of work.
- Residents in cities across the country are receiving $500 per month payments as part of a no-strings-attached experimental universal basic income program
- Universal Basic Income, popularized by former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, has gained more attention after the pandemic
- An Upstate New York a pilot program, funded by private donations, is providing 100 residents making less than $46,900 annually $500 a month for a year
- UBI advocates ultimately want the government paying a base salary to every citizen that would help to cover costs including food and rent
- Critics of UBI programs worry about their effectiveness and cost compared to aid programs that target funds for food, shelter or for help raising children