Almost three percent of the American workforce, around 4.3 million people, said "I quit" in October— a record high. In the leisure sector specifically, that number was more like six percent of the workforce.
People tend not to quit during times of distress (like 2009, or April last year), and so such a high number of quits is, in some ways, a positive sign for the economy.
The record levels of "I quit" also make sense in the context of the other dataset that's near a record high — job openings. With more than 10 million jobs open, quitters clearly feel confident that they'll be able to move onto greener pastures.
For businesses trying to fill open positions, this news is probably less exciting. There are already labor shortages in a number of industries — with almost one-third of workers not returning to job sectors with lots of public contact and relatively low wages, like retail, leisure and hospitality. With quit rates high in all of those sectors, those shortages probably aren't going anywhere.
MORE DATA
Great data viz from The Economist showing how Russia's federal election results look slightly unusual when closely inspected.
Gong has analyzed 300,000 sales emails, uncovering everything the data actually tells us about how to write good sales emails. These CTAs are scientifically proven to land more meetings (and fill up your pipeline).
Our favorite - 25 Percent: The portion of Americans who would live in a colony on Mars for the rest of their lives. Harper's has compiled a great list of interesting statistics in its latest edition.