US 'great resignation' is unlikely to be permanent

Significance

At the same time, retirees have not returned to the workforce at anything like pre-pandemic rates. While the pandemic gave some US workers reasons not to work, housing and financial markets gave more of them the means to do so. However, this works in both directions, suggesting the Great Resignation will not be permanent.

Impacts

• The Great Resignation offers opportunities to diversify the US workforce in sectors with high retirement levels, such as construction.
• Automation and digitisation of business models during the pandemic will permanently change US labour markets.
• The ‘Great Resignation’ has been most marked in the United States but quits are also edging up in Western Europe, Australia and Singapore.