we've all seen signs in front of shops restaurants and factories we're hiring help wanted and now
the omicron variant is taking a toll on the already depleted workforce we've wondered
how there can be so many open jobs when nearly every employer seems to be offering better pay
benefits and even signing bonuses the government's jobs report released this past week tells us what
has happened well over 20 million people quit their jobs in the second half of 2021
some are calling it the big quit others the great resignation
but who can explain why this is happening bill whitaker reports he found the best
place to look for real-time answers is the huge online job site linkedin which
calls itself the world's largest professional network the story will continue in a moment
people have been living to work for a very long time and i think the pandemic brought
that moment of reflection for everyone what do i want to do what makes my heart sing
and people are thinking if not now then when karen kimbrough is linkedin's chief economist she has
degrees from stanford and harvard and a phd from oxford used to work for the federal reserve and
now has a bird's eye view of the u.s labor market we have this unique view of the data we can see
across millions of members and what they share with us and we can see from employers millions of
them that are posting jobs on our platform there is one person hired every 15 seconds right now
on linkedin but linkedin's data on who is leaving jobs is most compelling millions of baby
boomers retiring early but also millions of gen z workers people in their teens and early twenties
many more women than men in all the highest quit rate since the government started keeping track
two decades ago at the nationwide level the number of americans quitting their job is higher than
ever higher than ever higher than ever do the data tell you why we can see what sectors people are
quitting retail sectors and hospitality sectors it may not just be worth it for some folks and so
in some cases people are quitting and they're not yet returning they're taking a break americans are
burnt out i like to think of it as a take this job and shove it measure it's just a sign of
people saying you know i don't need this i'm out i'm out the most recent data show people quitting
jobs across the board 4.4 percent of all positions in education are open over 6 percent in retail and
more than 8 percent in health care open jobs in hotels and restaurants are nearly nine percent
that's almost a million and a half vacant positions we do have openings and we do
need more employees carl sobosinski owns several restaurants in greenville south carolina he needs
workers both in the kitchen and out front waiting tables what's the biggest challenge in attracting
them and keeping the employees it's a problem that they're just not out there where we are we
just don't have the workers out there looking for the jobs construction is another sector without
enough workers at last count there were nearly 350 thousand open construction jobs nationwide you're
finding it more difficult to find people right now absolutely across the board across the board james
jordan owns a fast-growing construction company in greenville we doubled our revenue year over year
we don't have a work problem at all now it's just a matter of finding the individuals to be able
to do form the work it's not a work problem it's a worker problem it's a worker problem
we came to greenville south carolina after seeing it on a linkedin data map showing trends of
geographic migration lots of workers leaving big cities like san francisco and chicago and lots of
workers moving to places like austin and miami and greenville that's another big sign of this
job market people are moving a lot of people are just opting because of affordable housing costs
to choose more affordable places smaller cities they give you more space will feel safer um and
people are willing to try something new for what you'd pay to rent an apartment in san francisco
you can buy a nice house in greenville it has attracted big employers like bmw and michelin
but also tries to nurture small businesses and startups still you see all the same help wanted
signs on greenville's main street as you would in any big city many people believe that generous
government stimulus and unemployment benefits are really what's keeping so many workers on the
sidelines no matter where they live the quick answer people say is we're still providing too
many benefits and too many people can sit at home and and get a check i personally disagree with
that our associates that didn't come back they're not sitting at home they found other careers other
opportunities that fit their lifestyle better what we saw was that when these benefits were
turned off when workers were no longer getting the benefits they did not rush back to work
what does that tell you that tells me that it's not just a function of the benefits that's not
the only thing that's going on in the heads of workers when they make that calculus about
should i go back will i go back and for what job so is all of this producing a fundamental shift in
the balance of power between employers and employees it's as if that social contract
of work is being rewritten and right now the worker is holding the pen
there are just thousands upon thousands of available jobs in america right now
and companies are eager to hire but workers are being very choosy so employees are kind of in the
driver's seat employees are in the driver's seat right now workers want better pay and benefits
of course but they're also demanding autonomy and flexibility particularly in their work schedules
and employers large and small simply have to respond i think flexibility is critical this
is the employee's demand the employees they want flexibility and if you're an employer that won't
that won't work with your employees to to be flexible with them then you're going to be you're
missing out i mean you have to so is it the case that gone are the days where an employer would
say you're just lucky to have this job i think so i think so and i think it's for the better
james jordan's construction company will pay an employee's tuition if they want to continue their
education perfect timing come on in and their moving expenses if they relocate and like so
many employers he's offering signing bonuses and flexible hours to new hires i understand there was
one young man one young recruit that you called every day for two months i did you really wanted
this young man i did i did did you finally get him i finally got him he started last week monday what
a stunning turnaround from the spring of 2020 when the pandemic essentially shut the economy
down we had never seen anything like it when you lose 22 million jobs in just two months and
it's unthinkable kimbrough remembers that working mothers were and still are among those hardest hit
as the pandemic robbed them of many of their child care options what we're seeing now is actually a
really great story of resilience because we're seeing more and more women come back into the
workforce we're still missing a few million women by the way in the workforce we're not fully there
still missing a few million women um but we're seeing them come back and predominantly the women
that we're missing are parents of young children they were hit the hardest i just decided to leave
i had nowhere to go i had no hopes for employment luckily my husband was gainfully employed and
i was able to do that but i just walked away melissa williams walked away from a marketing
job in greenville in early 2021 when the pandemic hit she was balancing marriage motherhood and her
career you know you're part of a trend yes there's like a fundamental great resignation
people who are saying and doing what you did i i can do better than this this isn't
this isn't fun this isn't me like you said i hit a wall and i was done was that difficult i
mean it was it was very scary because i have i've been employed since i was 17 years old i remember
going home after i put in my resignation and and i just sat there on the couch and i was like what
did i just do i just quit my job i have no job to go to we have bills we have a child
we have responsibilities and my husband's like do you want to go for a walk i was like
i don't have anything else to do so we went for a walk
it is challenging to go say i'm a go out on my own
in general it really does take some work but people want to have
control kenzie biggins moved to greenville in 2017 a few years after she founded works b
which pairs remote assistance with executives and companies that need administrative help
you find executive assistants all over the country and you team them up with executives and companies
also all over the country yes so one can be in greenville and an executive can be in chicago
yeah it's all about the best pairing for you kenzie had the idea for workspeed years before the
pandemic made such arrangements common you were ahead of the curve and then the curve caught up
let me just say this i got a lot of crazy looks for a very long time you know walking into places
and saying you should have a virtual executive assistant people looked at me like i had five
heads they were like what pandemic hits and all of a sudden you're a genius we went from closing
three to four people a month to closing 10 to 18 people per month which is quite the jump
in trying to get people paired and bringing in new eas americans have really taken a liking to remote
work they're two and a half times as likely to apply to a job that's remote versus a job that's
not remote how's that different from pre-pandemic so pre-pandemic i think one in every 67 jobs
was a remote job and now and now it's one in seven one in seven one in seven jobs is remote now it's
a huge huge huge rise in mo and i think what it is is that companies have realized that if they want
to attract candidates they kind of need to meet them where they are now works be found me at the
most opportune time two months after quitting her office job melissa started with work speed
the churn rate is finally showing in stripe so hallelujah she's now an executive assistant for
three organizations you're working for three different bosses from home all virtually
yes it sounds like you could be just as busy as you were before i am i am just as busy
the difference is it's my choice now you have a fourth job i do
i do i am also an english instructor at greenville technical college works be and the ability to
design your work life does that make it possible for you to now enjoy what seems to be your passion
absolutely to teach english absolutely if it had not been for works b i would have never
been able to even give this a shot the pendulum of power may soon swing back toward employers
especially as workers who've quit their jobs deplete their savings but karen kimbrough
expects employees to cling to the flexibility they've fought for i think actually that this
trend towards having more flexibility could be permanent
i honestly can say i don't see myself going back to an office ever
ever ever honestly there is no office that could offer me what i have in my house it's not possible