The number of workers who quit their jobs in September rose to record high for the third month in a row, making it harder for companies to maintain staff levels during the worst labor shortage in decades.
According to MarketWatch, Some 4.4 million people quit their jobs in September, the government said Friday. By contrast, just half as many had quit during the early stages of the pandemic. Put another way, 3% of the labor force quit in that month. That’s also the highest level since the government began keeping track in 2000.
Before the pandemic the so-called quit rate was fairly steady at about 2.3%. People usually quit when the economy is doing well or they think they can find a better job. They tend to stay put when the economy is bad. The vast majority of people quitting are finding other jobs. Companies hired 6.5 million people in September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said.
Meanwhile, Companies in North America added a record number of robots in the first nine months of this year as they rushed to speed up assembly lines and struggled to add human workers.
According to CNN, Factories and other industrial users ordered 29,000 robots, 37% more than during the same period last year, valued at $1.48 billion, according to data compiled by the industry group the Association for Advancing Automation. That surpassed the previous peak set in the same time period in 2017, before the global pandemic upended economies.
The rush to add robots is part of a larger upswing in investment as companies seek to keep up with strong demand, which in some cases has contributed to shortages of key goods. At the same time, many firms have struggled to lure back workers displaced by the pandemic and view robots as an alternative to adding human muscle on their assembly lines.
