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Great article from Derek Thompson, The Atlantic:
Three Myths of the Great Resignation What if I told you the Big Quit wasn’t really about “quitting”? By Derek Thompson The “Great Resignation” remains one of the buzziest economic stories of 2021. But the more people talk about it, the more I wonder whether most people know what they’re talking about. As so often happens with other nifty phrases and neologisms, use of the term and abuse of the term are in equal proportion. Let’s start with what’s true. More Americans left their job in April this year than in any other month on record, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ analysis of what it calls “quits.” Even more people quit in July, setting a new record. We broke that new record again in August. And then again in September. This is what people refer to as the “Great Resignation,” and it is, as I’ve written, getting greater by the month. Now for what’s not true. Here are three popular myths about the Great Resignation and who is affected by it. Myth 1: The Great Resignation is about quitting. One problem with the term Great Resignation is that resignation sounds like a pure subtraction. If I told you, “My company suffered a great resignation last year,” you’d probably think that the company had lost a lot of workers. If I continued, “And the firm grew by 20 percent!” you might be very confused. But that’s what’s happening in the broader economy. The increase in quits is mostly about low-wage workers switching to better jobs in industries that are raising wages to grab new employees as fast as possible. From the quitter’s perspective, that’s a job hop. The low-wage service-sector economy is experiencing the equivalent of “free agency” in a professional sports league. That makes it more like the Big Switch than the Big Quit. Let’s zoom in on one sector: the accommodations and food-services industry. Mostly composed of restaurants and hotels, this sector has seen more quits than any other part of the economy. But it’s not bleeding jobs. Quite the opposite: Accommodation and food services added 2 million employees in 2021, more than any other subsector I could identify. Myth 2: The Great Resignation is about white-collar burnout. Although burnout has remained steady or declined for most workers during the pandemic, according to Gallup polling, remote workers are significantly more likely to say they’re burned out now compared with before the pandemic. Because remote workers are a very white-collar group, this fact has led to a great deal of news coverage claiming that the Great Resignation—or whatever!—is being driven by white-collar professionals. But quits aren’t rising much in finance, real estate, or the broad information sector, which includes publishing, software, and internet companies. This year, quits for leisure and hospitality workers have increased four times faster than for the largest white-collar sector, which is professional and business services. Read: Loving your job is a capitalist trap I’m not saying “Stop talking about burnout; it’s just for rich people.” I’m suggesting that we shouldn’t conflate white-collar burnout with whatever’s driving lower-wage service workers to hop around. Given the government statistics and private survey data we currently have, these just seem like different phenomena. Strange as it sounds, the increase in self-reported burnout is happening in industries where workers are less likely to quit. Myth 3: The Great Resignation is a 2021 phenomenon. Read the full article here: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/12/great-resignation-myths-quitting-jobs/620927/
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We are happy to announce the return of our Fall Series - Job Search Strategies with Montgomery County Libraries at various locations.
You must register on the MCPL website, only registered individuals will be able to attend. We look forward to seeing you! Register online: www.montgomerycountymd.gov/library Fall Series - Job Search Strategies at the Montgomery County Library Maximize your chances of finding the right job fit! Learn how to: • Identify job openings • Target your job search • Use the web effectively Facilitated by Melissa Fireman, CEO, Washington Career Services Register online: www.montgomerycountymd.gov/library September 23; 10 am–12 pm White Oak Library 11701 New Hampshire Ave Silver Spring, MD 20904 Tel: 240.773.9555 October 5; 1–3 pm Germantown Library 19840 Century Blvd. Germantown, MD 20874 Tel: 240.777.0110 November 22; 10 am–12 pm Silver Spring Library 900 Wayne Ave Silver Spring, MD 20910 Tel: 240.773.9420 By Melissa Dalgleish - Inside Higher ED
I was wasting time on the internet, as one does, when I discovered an intriguing course at Yale University called PSYC 157: Psychology and the Good Life. Laurie Santos, a professor in the psychology department, teaches smart, motivated, high-achieving students who are living the dream of many as Yale students. But instead of being happy, they were stressed, anxious, grade-grubbing wrecks. And they needed help. Santos realized that positive psychology research -- the study of positive human functioning and flourishing -- could help her students become happier, more productive and better equipped to make big career, life and financial decisions. PSYC 157 was born. And through the magic of the internet, anyone can take her class online: via Coursera, as The Science of Well-Being. I also work with high-achieving students and postdocs trying to figure out what to do with their lives, many of whom are facing big decisions about their futures and nearly all of whom are some level of stressed and anxious. I also have a minor personal obsession with figuring out what science can tell us about how to live a happy, productive life. So, of course, I signed up for Santos’s course. Positive psychology researchers focus on exactly that obsession of mine: what makes a good life. They aim to understand how the brain works, using a combination of psychology and neuroscience research methods, to give people tools to build better habits, make better decisions and make the world a better place. And did I mention that positive psychologists believe we can do all that while making our lives richer in meaning and money? Sign me up. Santos’s course leverages research by positive psychologists like Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced “Me-high Cheek-SENT-me-high,” in case you’re wondering), Daniel Gilbert, Martin Seligman and Sonja Lyubomirsky. She culls the best of their studies to help her students learn to make decisions and build habits that have the potential make them happier, more productive and better contributors to their families, communities, courses and careers. www.insidehighered.com/advice/2018/08/13/using-science-well-being-transform-your-career-exploration-opinion - Full Article We are happy to announce the return of our Summer Series - Job Search Strategies with Montgomery County Libraries at various locations.
You must register on the MCPL website, only registered individuals will be able to attend. We look forward to seeing you! Register online: www.montgomerycountymd.gov/library Summer Series - Job Search Strategies at the Montgomery County Library Maximize your chances of finding the perfect job fit! Learn how to: • Identify job openings • Target your job search • Use the web effectively Facilitated by Melissa Fireman, CEO, Washington Career Services Register online: www.montgomerycountymd.gov/library June 18; 10–12 pm Germantown Library 19840 Century Blvd. Germantown, MD 20874 Tel: 240.777.0110 July 19; 1–3 pm Rockville Memorial Library 21 Maryland Ave. Rockville, MD 20850 Tel: 240.777.0140 August 18; 1–3 pm Silver Spring Library 900 Wayne Ave. Silver Spring, MD 20910 Tel: 240.773.9420 We are now seeing clients at 4545 Connecticut Ave NW Washington DC 20008. Email or call us to schedule a free 15 phone intake and check session availability.
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