DALLAS — Texas is making a strong run at becoming the quitter capital of the U.S. We know this because of new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
There is always a delay in putting these numbers together, so these are September figures. They show that Texas had the largest increase in the number of workers who said "I quit" in September.
A total of 439,000 Texas workers gave their notice that month. That's 14,633 Texas workers every day saying, "I'm out."
Significantly, the 439,000 Texas quitters is just behind the 443,000 Californians who quit in September. The month before, the number of job quitters in Texas (370,000) was further behind the California total (403,000).
Texas also led the country for the largest drop in job openings, going from 887,000 in August to 807,000 in September. Some of the people who quit jobs snatched up new gigs. But not all of them.
So, where have those workers gone?
A lot of people complain those quitters just want to take advantage of unemployment, but generally in Texas you cannot claim unemployment if you voluntarily decide to leave your job.
Besides, the number of continued and initial unemployment claims in Texas are now below where they were before COVID-19 came along.
Experts say some workers got by on less during the pandemic and decided they could quit their jobs and keep getting by on less.
Others decided to stay home with their kids. Some who have quit jobs have started new businesses. And there are some workers who have quit and decided to retire early — especially since their investments may have fully recovered and then some after the stock market came roaring back from its pandemic plunge to reach new heights.