The coronavirus pandemic has led millions of people to resign from their jobs or retire earlier than expected in the United States, which has been called
Great Resignation
(the Great Resignation, in Spanish).
But how can those who decided to quit their job survive?
Where do they get the money now?
About 4.9 million workers quit their jobs in August, nearly 3% of the workforce, according to Labor Department data.
This record number of resignations began in April and has continued ever since, reflecting how the pandemic has mobilized changes in workers and their lives.
Experts point out that the change was driven in part by those who were no longer willing to put up with terrible working hours and wages, and the arrival of COVID-19 gave them the momentum they lacked.
There are those who also decided to change their career and others who no longer want to return to the offices as they did before.
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More than a year after the start of the pandemic, the gastronomy and hospitality sector loses hundreds of thousands of workers per month in the United States who decide to seek a female option or change careers.Mark Humphrey / AP
Many families turned to a mix of options to survive,
from a savings mattress to the help of partners or partners and the possibility of requesting an early retirement
.
The money saved during the lockdown measures, both in entertainment and work expenses, was also a relief.
"I no longer have to buy clothes or shoes for work, fill the gas tank three times a week, or pay for parking," Sandy Marasco told The Washington Post on how he copes with unemployment.
Marasco lost his job in the pharmaceutical industry in Cambridge, Massachusetts and survived on his savings for months.
He finally decided to retire early.
In 2020, the economic crisis caused by the pandemic generated record unemployment figures, with one million people losing their jobs every day in April.
The subsidies and other aid provided them with emergency income, but experts doubt that they are the motive behind the resignations, as Republican politicians put it.
Cuts in unemployment benefits that took place in the summer did not, in fact, reverse the wave of resignations.
In September, the country only added 194,000 workers despite a record number of jobs available.
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What has been a key factor is
the depletion of essential workers
, whether in hospitals, stores and food services, who endured arduous work in hazardous conditions during the pandemic, with wave of infections and deaths after wave.
At the end of August there were 10.4 million job vacancies in the country.
This gives workers a huge advantage when
looking for a more suitable job or better pay
.
Hundreds of thousands of people quit each month in restaurants, hotels and stores, among other service jobs, increasing the options to demand better conditions.
"
There is a lot of demand, and people are taking advantage of that opportunity and leaving their jobs
," Nick Bunker, an economist at the employment website Indeed, told The Washington Post.
The pandemic transformed not only the labor market in the last 18 months but also workers.
Angela Atkins works out of her home in Oxford, Mississippi, on December 18, 2020 while her two sons, Jess and Billy, focus on homework.Leah Willingham / AP
For those who have been working from home for more than a year, going back to the offices was also a moment of breaking, given the fear of contagion and the difficulties in caring for children.
Many workers also experienced the so-called
"epiphanies of the pandemic"
, changes in identity and purpose, and chose to make a career turn, explained Anthony Klotz, a professor at Texas A&M University, who is attributed the term Great Resignation, in an interview with The Washington Post.
Some had
the flexibility to seek a
freelance
income
or a part-time job
.
And there are professionals who are
backed by real estate and other investments
.
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An analysis of the records of 4,000 companies made by the Visier consultancy indicates that there are high rates of resignation among mid-career employees, between 30 and 45 years old, and in both the health and technology sectors.
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Marlen García, from Chicago, says that, thanks to the fact that she covered her mortgage with her husband in 16 years, she was able to look for temporary jobs because she did not have the burden of rent and no debts from her studies.
"I
had less than $ 5,000 in loans when I finished college in 1993,
" he recalled.
That is not the reality, yet the millions of families living paycheck to paycheck have tens of thousands of dollars in student and medical debt amid a shortage of affordable homes.
Even before the pandemic, the rising cost of living has left most low- and middle-income workers unable to save.
