4.3 Million Americans Left Their Jobs Last Month

“Some 4.3 million people quit or changed jobs in December — down from last month’s all-time high but still near record levels, as the labor market remained unsettled and the omicron variant swept through the United States,” the Washington Post reports.

“Employers reported some 10.9 million job openings in the survey, well above pre-pandemic averages.”

“The data is one window into how the labor market’s patterns have been upended by the pandemic. While the crisis was originally marked by mass joblessness — more than 20 million people lost their jobs in the earliest days of the pandemic, many temporarily — 2021 was defined by a strong labor market recovery as well as complaints by employers about difficulty finding available workers.”