More Americans Quitting Jobs than Being Laid Off

[The Straight Story]

More Americans Quitting Jobs than Being Laid Off

Huh? That about sums up the reaction to the latest labor news out of Washington, where the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has reported that more people are quitting their jobs than are being laid off.

In September, there were two million quits and 1.8 million layoffs, according to BLS.

In good economic times, this reality would be normal and expected. As the BLS states in its report: “Quits tend to rise when there is a perception that another job is available and tend to fall when there is a perception that jobs are scarce.”

With unemployment still running high, it’s hard to believe that Americans perceive there is a glut of jobs out there to choose from, thus causing them to leave their current position. The quits are rising most significantly in financial services and professional and business service.

http://www.allgov.com/Top_Stories/ViewNews/More_Americans_Quitting_Jobs_than_Being_Laid_Off_101117

[Newsjock]

1. The number isn't that shocking when in perspective

The source chart is here, on page 4 of this PDF:
http://www.bls.gov/web/jolts/jlt_labstatgraphs.pdf

[TBF]

2. My best guess is that those are folks who have been sitting

in jobs they don't really like or they're trying to move up (they quit when they have their new job already lined up of course). Finance, Professional, Business - these folks were sitting tight since '08 but they are seeing bonuses and feeling like they can move again. Primarily high-income folks in major cities.

[NNN0LHI]

3. My daughter is right on the verge of quitting herself

They pile more work on her every day while the supervisors relatives and friends who are supposed to be working with her sit around picking their noses and reading comic books.

Then they finally get a union vote and the nose picking suck asses all voted against the union because they like it the way it is now.

On a side note one of the guys she works with(one of the nose picking suck asses), hit the Illinois state lottery for 14.5 million dollars about five years ago and is still working there and doesn't do very much and had no plans on retiring. Coming to work was his hobby. They called my daughters department in for a meeting and laid off two guys last month and I guess there were some nasty stares going on between the guys getting laid off and the millionaire. Millionaire had several strokes one day last week and is currently hospitalized. So my daughter is covering for his job now too.

Don

[xchrom]

4. People are unhappy? It's how I see it anyway. Nt

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

5. How to read this story:

1) "Quits tend to rise when there is a perception that another job is available"

2) "The quits are rising most significantly in financial services and professional and business service"

Yes, as we already knew the wall-street sector is booming and paying quite well these days.

[tech9413]

6. I quit my last job in 02 and it wasn't because I had something

else lined up. Plain and simple, the industry had become a joke and I couldn't stand dealing with the short-sighted and mercenary nature of business in general.

[OHdem10]

7. I question this report. Specifically who are these people. When

you have laid off Engineers and Mgrs taking jobs at
Target I want to know who is quitting.

[EC]

8. Maybe people taking early retirement

because they think their jobs are threatened? I'm considering it, since I can get Survivors benefits from my late husband I can retire at 60, so I'm looking into that. I'm the next one up to loose my job here at work, since every expendable employee has been let go and I've been cut to 14 hours a week...

[Brickbat]

9. I would guess many people in financial, professional and business services are quitting to go into

business on their own. Entrepreneurship does tend to rise during a recession, IIRC. The problem is, of course, that many of them will fail.

I resigned my job two years ago and am now working from home on a freelance basis.