Ancillary #4 First Thoughts

The great resignation is a phenomenon used to describe the significant trend of quitting jobs after 2020. Many reasons are essential for such job loss. The first one is side gigs and earning additional income is critical during a time of economic upheaval arising from pandemic-caused disruptions. The second one is that the growth of remote work and the shuttering of offices during the pandemic have also led Americans to reassess their work-life balance and seek more meaningful employment. The third one is the technological advancement causing job loss, and the fourth one is due to automation. I think that the Covid would not fundamentally change how we view work.

I got many data saying the job loss during Covid 19. However, these data are not long enough to prove the fundamental change caused by covid. Many pandemics have changed the labor market in history, like the Spanish flu in 1918. However, the influence caused by the Spanish flu is not fundamentally enough to change the working relations. The article by NYT stressed that the workers are becoming more discerning of their working relations and are more willing to quit their jobs and focus on something else. However, as Forbes pointed out, the current job market conditions are not adjusting to the Covid environment, and the bosses still have the power to give less-paid jobs to applicants that quit their jobs. The NYT also gave an example of how a worker realized her toxic working environment was caused by covid and decided to start a new career. However, I don’t think this is a good example for proving the permanent change that covid 19 brought. Besides the covid pandemic, technology and automation would be the reasons that bring fundamental change to labor relations. When looking at data that proves the fundamental impact of a pandemic, we also need to differentiate if the true reason is not due to covid, but other factors like technology. I need to look more into the pandemic history in the past and the impact they caused. I also need to look into the theories and research regarding labor relations to see if the pandemic would have a significant effect.