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
