Three out of four full-time employees, and nearly half of part-time employees, are planning to quit their job in the next 12 months. (Photo: Shutterstock)
It appears job seekers have taken the wheel away from employers and are now altering the direction of the pandemic-influenced job market.
The new Joblist U.S. Job Market Report: 2022 Trends, which interviewed 14,767 job seekers, shows that employees and job seekers feel their prospects for work have greatly improved compared to 2020, when the pandemic really took hold in the United States. Because of that outlook, there is no end in sight for the so-called Great Resignation. In fact, the report states that three out of four full-time employees, and nearly half of part-time employees, are planning to quit their job in the next 12 months. And nearly one-third of those people quitting are happy to do so without a prospect for a new job.
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"Job market dynamics continue to change in important and long-lasting ways," stated Kevin Harrington, CEO of Joblist. "With a record number of job openings and the rise of remote work, barriers to job switching are now lower than ever. Employees are taking advantage and demanding higher pay, better benefits, increased flexibility, and more to join and then stay. For 2022, employers need to listen to the market and adapt quickly in order to remain competitive."
Employees also want to see benefits change with 80% saying employers need to evaluate the benefits they are offering and 67% saying benefits are more important to them now than before the pandemic began. Health care is the number one benefit that job seekers care about (67%), with a flexible work schedule running a close second (64%). While 37% of job seekers are "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with their current benefits, an equal number report being "dissatisfied" or "very dissatisfied."
Not surprisingly, however, work from home remains an important topic with 61% of all job seekers saying they are interested in remote job opportunities. A relatively large share of those surveyed (37%) of seekers are already working remotely at least some of the time; of these, 45% say they would quit if their employer required full-time, in-person work in 2022.
Unfortunately, pay remains a sticking point as nearly half of the employees surveyed did not receive a pay raise, and many of those who did were not able to keep up with the high inflation due to supply chain and other issues. Again, this had an impact on people's willingness to change jobs as nearly half did not receive a raise at all, according to the report; of these, 85% were more likely to think they can make more money by switching jobs than seekers who did get a raise (73%).
As the new year gets underway, 38% of job seekers feel their prospects are better now than in 2021. The job market remains in flux due to the waves of COVID still making their way through the country, which may be reflected in future surveys. In the meantime, employees are in the driver seat and continue to look for new opportunities.
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