JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Millions of Americans quit their jobs in November, 4.5 million workers to be exact.
“This happens when people are very confident that they can find a job,” Ron Whittington with Career Source Northeast Florida said. “Now that there are jobs out there, and there’s plenty of people looking then folks that probably were on the fence and maybe were happy with their job and wanted to change careers.”
The pandemic had employers willing to give more incentives to get people in the door. This opened the door even wider for people like Senoj Knowles. “I left my job the week before Thanksgiving, I ended up going to a security gig paying less, but the conditions were way better,” Knowles said. “There was a $2,000 sign on bonus plus $100 COVID vaccination bonus, that immediately grabbed my attention.”
Knowles and thousands of others in the region quit jobs in warehouses, hospitality, transportation, and more.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics says the number of job openings dropped to 10.6 million.
In Florida, the department of economic opportunity says the state was up 485,600 jobs in November.
Whittington said the overall the job market in Northeast Florida has done well. “We had partner employers in the region and we’re getting about 3,000 to 3,500 job openings a month in these counties in Northeast Florida.” Whittington said we’re getting close to employment levels before March of 2020.
It may be too early to tell what the risks from the Omicron will be. Some experts say we may see a labor shortage until the end of the year.
CareerSource Northeast Florida will host its first virtual hiring event for 2022 Wednesday, January 12 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.