It seems that everyone is quitting all the time.
There is not enough labor to meet the needs of growers, restaurants, and supermarkets, and a new study illustrates just how high the turnover rate is for specific industries.
The study from the document management tool SmallPDF analyzed data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to score every industry’s quit rates — the percentage of total employees quitting in an industry every month — and quit levels, which measures how many employees quit in total each month.
No surprise here; the accommodation and foodservice industry is the industry with the “most quitting” in the U.S.
From the release:
The accommodation and food services industry, including fast food workers, waiters, and chefs, saw an average of 5.8% of its workforce leave between April and August 2022, when the study was carried out. More than 773,600 employees left every month on average during the study. August 2022 saw 128,000 more employees quit than the number who left their jobs in August 2021, indicating a massive change in staffing. Coming in second place is the retail trade industry, which includes jobs like cashiers, customer service representatives, and stock clerks saw an average of 600,400 employees quitting every month between April and August 2022 and an average quit rate of 3.82%. Roughly 109,000 fewer employees quit this August compared to August 2021 in the industry. The arts, entertainment, and recreation industry ranked third on the list, which includes the likes of fitness trainers, recreation attendants, and musicians. This is due to a quit rate of 3.58% on average between April 2022 to August 2022, a high rate despite the low total employee numbers. Around 7,000 more employees quit the industry in August 2022 compared to August 2021. Fourth place goes to the professional and business services industry, including lawyers, accountants, architects, and more. It saw roughly 754,000 employees quit every month between April and August 2022. The quit rate was, on average, 3.36% during these months. August 2022’s quit number was 63,000 fewer employees than the quit level of August 2021.
The survey didn’t have answers about how to stem all the quitting, but it did suggest that workers use the SmallPDF template when they turn in their resignations. Of course!
The churn rate in foodservice and retail is adding to the headaches of hiring managers in the fresh produce supply chain, who find it hard to fully staff their operations in the first place, not to mention all that quitting once the workers start.
Hundred-dollar lettuce? You bet.
The Packer covered the sky-high lettuce market in a recent report.
Here are more charts showing the shock and awe of the lettuce markets in recent weeks:
