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Generally, when more people start quitting their jobs it’s a good thing.
“It signals a labor market that is healthier, where workers have more mobility,” said Angela Hanks, chief of policy programs at the Century Foundation.
She said people tend to quit when they’re confident they can find another job. But one month of data showing more people quitting doesn’t mean all that much.
“And then also, this is sort of in the context of a bunch of other numbers that we get reporting on the strength of the labor market,” Hanks said.
So far, she said, none of those other numbers — on job growth or
wage growth — indicate now is a good time to quit your job.
Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute, said it’s quite the opposite, actually.
“If you have a job, the right thing to do is to hang onto it if you can,” she said. “All the data point to, it’s really, really hard to find a job right now.”
The hiring rate is about where it was in 2012 and 2013. Back then, Shierholz said, the economy was just coming out of the Great Recession and the labor market was very weak.
“That's the kind of world that people who are looking for a job are facing right now. … It's rough,” she said. |