You’ve likely already heard about the great resignation — Covid is causing millions of people to say enough of dead-end, low-paying, high-stress jobs. The employment market is shifting more dramatically than it has at any time since World War II when women flooded the work force as millions of men, and women went off to war.
Employers keep expressing shock. Many are complaining about having to offer higher pay and some benefits to lure and/or keep workers. I say, about time.
The labor market has been in a depression since the 2008 Great Recession. From 2008 until I retired in 2015, for example, I only worked one place that gave annual raises anymore and those were all under 3%.
The tide is turning and workers now have the upper hand. Partially it’s people reacting to Covid, but another major part is the retirement of Baby Boomers.
And let’s not forget the hundreds of thousands of people who have died from Covid or Covid-complications. How many of those were still in the workforce?
The one economic consequence of the 1918 Pandemic that has been written about is that there was a contraction in the labor force because of the deaths the Pandemic caused. We’re seeing that again.
For the past several years, this blog has been devoted primarily to guest posts as my interests have turned elsewhere. But the Great Resignation is getting my attention, and rejuvenating my interest in writing about finding and keeping good jobs.
So I’ll be posting links to more items like this to help you navigate this new jobs market:
Heed these 8 tips from an employment lawyer before you quit
And don’t forget to check out my book, Always Be Job Hunting. Its advice is even more relevant today than it was when I wrote it.
Good job hunting everyone!
—John N. Frank
Always Be Job Hunting 