TEXAS, USA — Every time huge numbers of people quitting their jobs in Texas is reported, WFAA hears complaints from some people that those quitters need to get back to work.
They might be misunderstanding.
First off, it’s not a real concern for other people in most cases. Generally, someone cannot draw unemployment benefits in Texas for voluntarily resigning. So, if someone quits, it doesn’t necessarily come at a cost to the rest of us.
Besides, it looks like many of those quitters are turning right back around -- and working.
More on that in a moment.
First, WFAA has received data for November 2021. For the third month in a row, more than 400,000 Texans turned in their notice. The state took the number two spot in the country for the highest number of quitters, 411,000. California had 4,000 more with 415,000 quitters. Those are preliminary numbers.
When those numbers are finalized in about a month, Texas could very well still be the "quitter capital" of the country -- a designation it had in September and October of 2021.
In the three months from September through November of last year, 1,280,000 Texas workers called it quits. But in that same timeframe, 1,827,000 people were hired in Texas.
Listen to Y'all-itics: Texas workers keep quitting, Texas employers keep paying more. Can this keep up?
So, those back to those quitters who are turning around and working, it may be the case that a lot of them are just playing musical chairs — the jobs edition. We’ll call it musical cubicles.
“Yeah, that's exactly right,” Jay Denton, chief labor market analyst with Dallas-headquartered Labor IQ by Think Why, said. “So, when you'll hear this number of people quitting, it's usually voluntary quits, and it's usually people going from one job to another just because there's so much opportunity here."
Denton's firm has access to many salaries for a lot of different industries. The company advises employers in Texas and across the country on how to make their salaries more competitive.
Lately, they have been telling many companies that the going rate for various positions has gone up, and in some cases, way up. Many of their clients have been responsive, improving pay, and sometimes offering bonuses in the tens of thousands of dollars.
This is all driven by the fact that workers have been in relatively short supply during the pandemic. In fact, Denton said if you are thinking of looking for a job, you may become a serious contender just by being present. It’s so competitive right now that, he said, people who are supposed to show up for an interview, or even for their first day or work at a new job, are just ghosting employers.
“Sometimes you get them to come in and they actually get hired. And then, before they're completely onboard, they've accepted another job. I mean, that's how difficult things are," said Denton.
But how do you get a serious raise without quitting and getting hired by someone who wants you more?
Denton talks about that and the crazy signing bonuses some companies are paying. And he gives his expectations for where we’re headed in a Right on the Money takeover of our Y’all-itics podcast.
Find it wherever you get your podcasts by searching for WFAA or Y'all-itics. Or simply click here to listen.