We quit 💼

Home » Unlabelled » We quit 💼

We quit 💼

View in Browser

American workers are leaving crappy jobs and forcing employers to level up. Let's get into it.

By Allison Morrow

💼 WE QUIT

A record 4.3 million Americans quit their jobs in August — that's nearly 3% of the workforce, the highest quit rate since the Labor Department started keeping records in 2000.

The jobs people are ditching should come as no surprise either: They're walking out of bars, restaurants, hotels, retailers and health care facilities — typically low-paying sectors that have been disproportionately hit by the pandemic.

🎵 Do you hear the people sing?

If layoffs and furloughs were the theme of last year's grim job market during the peak of the pandemic, the upside for 2021 is that workers have emerged with greater leverage, particularly in service sectors known for chronically low pay, hard hours and few benefits. Managers are bending over backward to sweeten offers for new hires and raise wages to keep current staff from fleeing.

🎵 It is the music of a people who will not be … exploited for their labor at the cost of their mental and physical health again.

"This is what happens after great wars or depressions," said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM. "It's hard to spot while you're in it, but we've gone through a shock that has elicited an unexpected change upon the population. And it will take some time to sort through."

The data from Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, known as JOLTS, don't indicate where workers end up, but people tend to leave voluntarily when better-paying or otherwise more attractive opportunities arise. Whether this surge of quitting is good or bad news for the economy depends on whom you ask.

The sunny take: This is a long overdue churn in the labor force that will improve workers' rights and create more humane standards across industries. Rising wages are good for workers.
The less sunny take: The country is still down about 5 million jobs from before the pandemic, and that's holding the economy back from growing at its full potential. And higher wages are good, but they can also fuel inflation, which hits low-income Americans the hardest and could drag on consumer spending.

🤝 SPONSOR CONTENT BY THE ASCENT

Why thousands of people like you are lining up for this card

Not only does this card offer 0% intro APR for over a year, cardholders can also earn up to an industry-crushing 5% bonus cash back.

#️⃣ NUMBER OF THE DAY

$1.9 billion

Battery supplier LG is on the hook for most of the $1.9 billion cost of recalling 143,000 Chevrolet Bolts — one of the most expensive recalls ever on a per-vehicle basis.

💳 PETTY

Somebody call the Department of Extreme Spite, we've got a red alert.

Ryanair, the budget Irish airline, is banning passengers who sought refunds from their credit card companies for flights they did not take during coronavirus lockdowns.

That's right: The flights were able to take off as scheduled, but a bunch of passengers — about 1,000, according to Ryanair —"chose not to travel and then unlawfully processed chargebacks via their credit card company," the carrier said. Those passengers will have to "settle their outstanding debt" with the airline before they will be allowed to fly again.

Which, OK, that'd be fine if Ryanair had told those customers about the ban before they booked a new flight. According to a report by MoneySavingExpert, a personal finance website in the United Kingdom, customers weren't made aware of the ban until well after they made new bookings, and they are facing last-minute charges of hundreds of dollars before they can board those flights.

"This is outrageous from Ryanair," said Guy Anker, MoneySavingExpert deputy editor. The airline has "used up any sympathy by the way it's treated holidaymakers afterwards."

MY TWO CENTS

Alright, Ryanair, we get it — times are tough, you're a low-cost carrier, etc. But you're really going to narc on your customers like this? Legally, it appears Ryanair isn't obligated to refund customers who couldn't make their flights. But the optics are terrible. The lesson is, "the customer is always right," not "the customer is always right unless that sucker didn't read the fine print in which case they can go to hell."

QUOTE OF THE DAY

I personally think bitcoin is worthless.

Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, remains immune to the crypto hype. During a virtual conference, he reiterated his disdain for bitcoin — he's previously described it as a "fraud," "stupid," and "far too dangerous" — before softening the landing a bit, adding: "I don't care, it makes no difference to me." The remarks came during a dramatic rebound for bitcoin, which has surged in recent weeks to about $57,000 — about 12% below its all-time high.

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

📉 The International Monetary Fund slashed its 2021 growth forecast for the United States by one full percentage point to 6%, the biggest reduction for any G7 economy in its latest World Economic Outlook.

👑 Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, are partnering with Ethic, a firm that promotes investing in companies with good environmental, social and governance (ESG) track records.

👀 Another Facebook whistleblower, Sophie Zhang, says she felt like she had "blood on her hands" after working at Facebook, and is willing to testify about the company before Congress.

🏦 At least four Chinese real estate developers, including the behemoth Evergrande, are buckling under mountains of debt.