In our last blog we discussed a recent phenomenon that has been called the Great Resignation www.excelsiorwp.com/blog/the-great-resignation (Dauksza Sept 2021). At that time it was a fledgling movement that was still debatable as to whether it was indeed happening. Well…it is happening and it’s to the tune of 20 million Americans that have decided to quit their jobs, seemingly, out of the blue. More people are retiring than ever before. The Great Resignation: Why more Americans are quitting their jobs than ever before - 60 Minutes - CBS News (Whitaker January 2021)
Whether you are calling it The Great Resignation or the Big Quit the fact remains that there are more questions than answers about why this is happening and what effect this will ultimately have. Why The Big Quit Is Happening And Why Every Boss Should Embrace It (forbes.com) (Curtis June 2021)
The general feeling is that the power that employers once had over their workforce has now shifted to the employee workforce. For many years every major manufacturing employer in every town in America had an employment waiting list. You basically had to know someone to get hired at these coveted jobs. You can say that during those times employees were mistreated a bit, taken for granted, or under-valued. You can blame a Covid environment that caused an imbalance in the work force by offering extended unemployment on steroids. You can say that those employees that continued to work during this Covid environment were put under tremendous stress by simply being asked to do more with less resources. No matter how we got here, The Great Resignation does not seem to be going away any time soon. Americans are retiring in record numbers. Record US retirements may hinder economic recovery — Quartz (qz.com) (Fernholz June 2021)
Most of the media coverage seems to be around how we got to this point. No one really seems to be talking about how we are going to fix this. No one seems to be discussing some of the tough questions that have resulted from this mass exodus. Here are a few:
- What will happen to Americans that are retiring at such an early age?
- Will people run out of money?
- How do we replace these integral Baby Boomers in the economy?
- What effect will a stock market downturn have on those that are retiring so early?
- Can employers like manufacturers survive with less employee numbers?
As we watch the Big Quit unfold, we are doing our part at Excelsior Wealth to help retirees navigate these unchartered waters. The volume of retirees looking for direction has never been higher. Our business is helping retirees find their way and business is booming…..Baby Booming:) .