3 things you should know about the millions of people quitting their jobs

The pandemic forced millions of people out of work, but now millions are quitting the jobs they kept. William Spriggs tells Insider what’s going on.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen (left) greets Howard University Economics Professor William Spriggs (right) at the Federal Reserve headquarters in Washington on October 30, 2014. Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

By Juliana Kaplan and Andy Kiersz

A strange paradox has emerged in the reopening economy: Millions of workers are quitting, even though millions were laid off during the pandemic and abruptly left without work.

It’s what psychologist Anthony Klotz has termed the “Great Resignation,” as reported by The Guardian, and the number of people who are unemployed after quitting their jobs reached a new pandemic-high in June.

Separately, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Wednesday that 3.6 million people quit their jobs in May, with only one available worker for every job opening. That came after 4 million people quit their jobs in April, itself a 20-year high. While the quits rate may be slightly declining from April to May, it’s still the highest since December 2000, when the BLS started collecting this data.

So why are people quitting, and why is it so hard to hire right now?

Ahead of Wednesday’s data release, Insider spoke to Dr. William Spriggs, an economics professor at Howard University and chief economist at the AFL-CIO, and he offered three…