Understanding Young Worker Motivations During the Great Resignation

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that more than 47 million workers voluntarily quit their jobs in 2021. This phenomenon, referred to as the Great Resignation, is the subject of a new study from the Shift Project. Prior research had relied on labor mar­ket data and lim­it­ed anec­do­tal evidence until Why Are Young Workers Leaving Their Jobs? took a dif­fer­ent approach. This new research engaged nearly 3,000 young work­ers and tracked sev­er­al telling fac­tors, includ­ing their rea­sons for quit­ting and their sat­is­fac­tion at each job. This blogpost by the Annie E. Casey Foundation discusses the results of the study, including the motivations for quitting and employment within the service sector.