More than 400,000 California workers quit their jobs in August. Should you be next?
You’re not alone if you’re thinking of quitting your job.
In August, more than 400,000 California workers quit their job, the highest at any point in the last two decades, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. The number represents 2.5% of the state’s workforce.
“There are lots of workers switching jobs, and they are seeing stronger wage growth because of it,” said Nick Bunker, the economic research director of North America for Indeed, a job listings website.
But it doesn’t mean everyone will benefit from submitting their resignation letters right now, career experts said.
“I don’t think people should just quit because the big quit is going on,” said Helen Horyza, a Folsom-based career coach. “It’s easier to find a job when you have a job. And it’s not smart to be impulsive.”
The Sacramento Bee spoke with several career coaches and labor experts to better understand what the “Great Resignation” means for California workers. Here’s what we found:
Why are workers quitting?
The coronavirus pandemic led millions of workers to reevaluate their lives, especially those in low-wage sectors such as leisure and hospitality, Bunker said. More than 6% of U.S. leisure and hospitality workers quit their job in August, higher than at any point in the last two decades, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
“Quits rate overall is elevated for some of the low-wage, in-person sectors,” he said. “But if you compare the quits rate for financial services or information sectors,... their quits rate is roughly equal to what we’re seeing before the pandemic.”
Sarah Bohn, a researcher at PPIC, said there’s a caveat: Fewer workers quit their jobs during the peak of the pandemic. The current trend is “making up from the quits we hadn’t seen in the last year and a half,” she said.
The tight labor market means workers have a lot of leverage to find and shape their jobs, such as by negotiating more days to work from home or securing higher salaries, said Julia Pollak, the chief economist at a job listing site ZipRecruiter.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics data, there were more than 1 million job openings in California in August, the highest number in at least the last decade.
Switching jobs can have a cost, such as finding a new place to live. But in the era of working from anywhere, that cost has vanished, Pollak said.
Should you quit your job?
“What I usually tell people is that it’s easier to get a job when you have a job,” said Cici Mattiuzzi, a Sacramento-based career consultant.
A 2017 study from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that those who have a job get more than twice the interviews and three times as many offers as those who don’t.
“The stress of being out of work and a long-haul job search, even if you have a terrible boss, you trade one nightmare for another,” Horyza said.
There are exceptions, such as if your physical or mental health is at risk due to your job, Mattiuzzi said. And if your industry is practically begging for workers, quitting your job could be good for you, Horyza said.
If you quit your job without having another lined up, Pollak said it could be challenging to find your next work. Doing your research on the labor market for your industry is critical, experts said.
“There are some occupations on ZipRecruiter where there are 270 applications for a job, and there are others where employers are struggling to find candidates,” Pollak said.
And you don’t necessarily have to leave your job, said Andrea Weiss, a Davis-based career counselor. You can talk with your current employer to tweak your job in ways that make it more satisfying for you, she said.
“Because organizations realize it’s hard to fill the positions right now, it gives employees some leverage with current employers,” she said.
Preparing for your next job
If you decide to look for a new job, first identify what you want to become, Horyza said.
If not, “you end up dragging all your unhappiness with you to the next job, and you don’t evolve,” she said.
Then, start researching and networking. What skills do you have and enjoy using? What interests you? Have a list of companies you want to work for — your companies’ competitors, for instance — and meet with people who work there, said Linda Greenfield, a Los Angeles-based career counselor.
Look for people with something you have common with, such as schools, Greenfield said. If you’re looking for a job in a different industry, you can use LinkedIn to connect with those who have already leaped, she said.
If you’re looking for a new job to get more pay, Greenfield noted California has a law banning employers from asking you about your salary histories. “If you were underpaid in the past, you don’t want your next employer to pay you based on your last salary.”
Also, in California, you can ask a hiring manager to provide the pay scale for a position. Talk about the values you bring to the company before asking for the information, Greenfield advised.
There also are a few resources that can help you, Weiss said. The National Career Development Association has a website (ncda.org) that can help you find a career counselor. The California Career Resource Network has a website (cacareerzone.org) that can help you explore and plan for a career. There are job centers across the state where you can go in-person.
LinkedIn can also be beneficial. You can say you’re “open to work,” which doubles the chance of recruiters contacting you, said Rohan Rajiv, a group product manager at LinkedIn. You can also filter jobs to specifically look for remote work, he said.
All those can feel demanding. But Horyza said it’s worth it.
“Your career is a source of income but also a source of self-esteem. It’s a source of fulfillment,” she said. “There’s an assumption our careers should just fall into place, and I think that’s faulty thinking.”
This story was originally published November 10, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
