Time November 8/November 15, 2021|Economy|”They quit. Now What?” “Young people are leaving their jobs in record numbers-and not going back” By Raisa Bruner
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This Time article covers why Gen-Z (Less than 24 YO), Zillennials (25-34 YO) and Millennials AKA Gen-Y (35-40 YO) are choosing to leave traditional jobs. It features Whitney Green (31YO), Emma Grace Moon (22 YO) and Cory Gabrielsen (30YO) to embellish the current jobs data.
American job leaving now exceeds the decline early in the pandemic and is now consisting of 3.9 million in June, 3.9 million in July and 4.3 million in August. In September, nearly a quarter of workers ages 20 to 34 were not considered part of the U.S. Workforce-some 14 million Americans...who were neither working nor looking for work.
What are the reasons for this transition away from traditional jobs?
Green-Community Health Worker before but now looking to start her own telehealth practice. The 31 year old with a master’s degree chose to take a “self-imposed sabbatical and live off savings” accrued during the lockdown before “working for herself one day.”
Moon-A 22 year old staffer at a marketing agency is now going it alone as a consultant for direct-to-consumer brands. She felt she “could exceed my trajectory way faster if it was in my hands, rather than reporting every year, every month, with a quarterly check-in." She’s working more than 9-5 but has flexibility and is making “three times her former income.”
Gabrielsen-the number two employee in an agriculture start-up “quit...after two years...because the travel demands were intense.” Start-up burn out is reportedly common. “Now, he spends his days option trading, running a Twitter bot account...and dabbling in Web3 and cryptocurrency investments.” He cites less stress plus he’s not “working full-time and has no concerns about money, thanks to his savings, investments and a boom time in crypto world. ‘My goal is not to go back to having a boss.’”
What do the staffing and other workforce professionals cite as the root causes of this transition away from traditional jobs?
Burnout especially with start-up workplaces.
A rare opportunity to re-focus coming out of the pandemic. Some are reexamining career goals by using their own savings or with family support.
Low wages and nasty-behaving customers in the leisure and hospitality industry that is dominated by younger workers.
Many workers discovered that working-remotely-from-home was less stressful, more autonomous, more flexible and much easier to care for children than commuting to and working-in-office, under tight management control.
“The pivot to remote work has also made possible a level of work-life balance that those in their 20s and early 30s...have never imagined” after all half had the experience of having “two parents working full-time.”
Millennials in a “2020 Gallup poll showed 74% did not want to return full-time to offices.” “Over 309,000 women dropped out of the workforce in September alone.” According to Alicia Sasser Modestino (Northeastern University) the “Childcare is a piece that people have been underestimating for a while.”
Some white collar workers see the shift as moving towards “funemployment.”
Many are holding back even if they can’t afford to because, at this moment, they see some degree of bargaining power-traditional jobs are abundant with many employers searching for staff. They are individually and some in organized ways resisting a return to traditional work unless the income inequality gap narrows in their favor.
According to Lawrence Katz (Harvard), some previously employed workers are using this moment in time for “trying out new things, and taking advantage of new opportunities and not sticking with the old bargain” Lawrence Katz (Harvard).
What do economists say?
“The Great Resignation is only getting started, especially for Gen-Z and Millennial workers who are well positioned to find new ways to earn income.”
“Whatever their motivation...young blue collar and white collar workers...are finding themselves happier-and more independent.”
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