No More Great Resignation: Americans Hold On to Their Jobs

In the wake of the unprecedented, albeit brief jobs crisis brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, a new trend emerged in the U.S. labor market in 2021, as tens of millions of Americans voluntarily left their jobs. In 2022, more than 50 million Americans took part in 'the Great Resignation', as workers were confident to find better pay or better career opportunities elsewhere in a red hot labor market. After peaking between November 2021 and April 2022, when almost 4.5 million people quit per month on average, the movement steadily lost steam, though, with the number of quits falling back below the four-million mark in January 2023 and continuing their downward trend from there. According to the latest JOLTS report, 3.3 million Americans left their job voluntarily in March 2025, down from a monthly average of 4.2 million in 2022, 3.7 million in 2023 and in line with the 2024 average.

The number of monthly quits is now back to 2018 levels, when the balance of power began shifting in favor of workers, as the number of job openings exceeded the number of unemployed workers for large parts of 2018 and 2019. While that is still the case, the gap between the two has gradually narrowed as the ratio of job openings per unemployed worker fell from more than 2 in March 2022 to 1.02 in March 2025. Lurking recession fears and a lot of uncertainty surrounding Trump's tariff policy and their effect on the U.S. economy will likely continue to convince more workers to hold on to their jobs rather than risk being unemployed at the wrong time. As our chart illustrates, the number of quits typically declines sharply in times of recession, as it can be very tough to find a new job during an economic downturn.