| "Wait, should I just quit my job?" You'd be lying if you've never asked yourself that before. Perhaps you're a delivery worker who is sick of pedaling around cartons of lukewarm pad thai in the biblical rain. Or maybe you hit it big on meme stocks this year and realized your day job was a bit too boring. If you spent more time rewatching "Succession" than doing your actual job this week, it might be a good indication that, yes, you should absolutely quit. In fact, there are many reasons to leave your job:  "Americans have a history of not changing jobs often enough, to the detriment of the economy," writes Allison Schrager. If you look at how many open jobs there are in America, there's honestly never been a better time to reinvent yourself and find a more thrilling occupation. Or at least one with a working soft-serve machine. "As a percentage of the number of employed people, the level of job openings is 50% higher than it was pre-pandemic, and twice as high as it was before the 2008 recession," Conor Sen explains:  See that spike? There's so much promise in that one line. And the good news doesn't stop there. Bloomberg Businessweek's Michael Sasso points out that American employees have been experiencing substantial wage gains since the pandemic began. "For the third month in a row, wages for the low-skilled have risen faster than for the high-skilled," John Authers writes. The power is with the workers, which is great for economic growth:  Now, you might be wondering: Are other people quitting? It's a natural question. Quitting is a solitary behavior, and it can be super-scary to take that leap. What if I quit and my boss hates me forever? What if my job offer is rescinded after I give notice? What happens to my shoe drawer if I quit while I'm still WFH? You are certainly not alone in your worries, but do not despair — the world of quitters is rich in company. Quit rates are at their highest level in more than 20 years:  The key to quitting isn't actually the act of leaving your old job. It's the task of finding a new one, which we strongly advise you do prior to leaving your current position. Otherwise, you might end up on the couch, staring at your ceiling all day. Chances are, you have heard of the "lie flat" movement, which originated from overworked people in China who spent their days and nights — 9 in the morning to 9 at night, six days a week, to be exact — in factories. Now, millennials in other places are catching on, saying they, too, are overworked. But it's not as though hordes of U.S. workers are booking one-way flights to Bali in order to sit on the beach and drink piña coladas for months on end. "Not all are lying flat. Some are taking this time to learn new skills that will launch a better career with higher pay and upward mobility. Those people may come out of this labor market in a better place," Schrager notes. So yes, you can leave your job and become an even better human, armed with more marketable skills than ever. But quitting is a privilege. Some people can't afford to look for a new job, and those workers are getting left behind in environments that are short-staffed. Even if they were happy with their job pre-pandemic, their hours are getting longer and longer, creating a rather miserable workplace:  So how do you cope when everyone around you is quitting? Teresa Ghilarducci writes that "the most logical place to start is by talking to an employer, many of whom are probably loath to lose any more people." For the quitters, the Great Resignation is truly great. For those they leave behind, burnout awaits. Further Resignation Reading: More Data From Bloomberg Opinion: This is the Theme of the Week edition of Bloomberg Opinion Today, a digest of our top commentary published every Sunday. | 
Post a Comment