Since the start of the pandemic, about 9.6 million Americans have lost their jobs. Worse yet, before the holidays, a record number of people handed in their resignations.
In fact, roughly 4.5 million Americans resigned in November (a record high) due to various reasons, from starting their own business to taking early retirement and a desire for more flexibility. According to the Labor Department, 22 states witnessed a growth in the quits rate in November.
Interestingly, the states with the highest quit rates were those with lower unemployment rates, such as New Hampshire (6th-lowest jobless rate) and Georgia (8th lowest jobless rate). In other words, in November, 1 in 22 workers quit their jobs in the above-mentioned states. Vermont, North Dakota, and Kentucky followed suit.
On the other hand, only two states witnessed a decline in the number of workers who resigned in November — namely, Colorado and Pennsylvania.
To be more precise, the quit rate went down by 3.5% (from 4% in October) in the Centennial State and by 2.4% (from 2.7% in October) in the Keystone State.
What’s more, the highest percentage of people who decided to quit their jobs came from the South, the West, and the Midwest. At the same time, the Northeast had the lowest rates.
Moreover, the South had the highest rate of hiring (4.8%), followed by the Midwest (4.2%), the West (4.3%), and the Northeast (3.8%), whereas the job openings rate in the Midwest and the South reached 7.4% and 7.2%, respectively.
