Is the ‘Great Resignation’ a Myth or Reality?

While much has been made of “the great resignation,” or the phenomenon this year of workers everywhere quitting their jobs en masse, a piece from The Economist doesn’t think it’s quite all it’s cracked up to be.

According to the piece, America and Britain are the places where it’s easiest to see truth in the idea of a great resignation, with 4.4 million Americans quitting their jobs in September, and almost 400,000 U.K. residents moving jobs in the third quarter.

This has also led to other seismic changes, including companies now being more willing to offer higher wages.

However, The Economist notes that the “great resignation” doesn’t seem particularly jarring in other areas of the world, as in Canada, where 96,000 people quit over the past year as of October — but that number wasn’t as much as the 132,000 who left around the start of the pandemic.

Meanwhile in Japan, the number of people quitting their jobs was almost at an all-time low, and in New Zealand and Italy, there were barely any remarkable statistics of such.

And The Economist also notes the grim factoid that there were millions who died of COVID-19 and as such were not a part of the work statistics anymore as of late 2021.

Some of the factors that could be driving the declining labor force: fear of contracting COVID-19 and immigrants returning to their home countries.

PYMNTS reports that the “great resignation” could be part of a new driving force to get a change in healthcare practices.

See also: The Great Resignation, Gig Economy Growth Fuels Demand for Portable Health Benefits Apps

The report says there are efforts to modernize healthcare, like the way Stride Health is working with Fiverr to bring healthcare to freelancers.

Stride Health Co-Founder and CEO Noah Lang has said the idea is to make things more affordable and make benefits more portable.

This comes as traditional full-time employment has been shaken up by the effects of the pandemic.