- US job openings in November decreased slightly to 10.6 million, compared to 11 million in October.
- The number of Americans quitting their jobs reached a record-high of 4.5 million.
- Compared to the 4.2 million who quit their jobs in October, it's clear the Great Resignation is persisting.
The number of job openings fell slightly in November while the number of Americans quitting their jobs reached an all-time high, showing the Great Resignation isn't slowing down anytime soon.
Open positions in the US decreased to 10.6 million in November, according to Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, data released by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics on Tuesday. The largest decrease in job openings took place in accommodation and food services, with 261,000 fewer openings, while the finance and federal government sectors saw slight increases in jobs available.
And the number of Americans who quit their jobs in November showed no signs of slowing down. Quits reached a record high of 4.5 million, with the largest increase once again coming from accommodation and food services. Health care followed behind, with 52,000 more quits in November than October, as the pandemic continues to spread, with the transportation sector losing 33,000 more workers in November than October. Both industries have been hit by the ongoing labor shortage.
Compared to job openings and quits in October, the November data isn't too far off. Job openings in the US rose to 11 million in October, with the hotel and restaurant industries leading the way with 227,000 more openings that month than in September. And while quits did fall to 4.2 million the same month, it marked the fourth-highest quit number ever.
There's no one reason why so many people are quitting their jobs. Some Americans are holding out for higher wages while others are unable to work right now due to lack of childcare options or health concerns caused COVID-19, but it's clear standards held by workers are changing.
Insider recently reported on the millions of Americans joining the Great Resignation, with workers in Kentucky at its epicenter. Some Kentuckians who quit their jobs reported stress from the job, lack of childcare, health concerns, and systemic inequality as primary factors driving their decisions to quit.
And those reasons are also driving the labor shortage nationally, in which businesses are struggling to hire because Americans are not returning to work. In November, the US added just 210,000 jobs to the labor market, badly missing economists' estimate of 550,000 jobs, reflecting this continuing shift in worker sentiment.