I don’t understand how this is happening? How are people affording rent and food? Are people resigning to genuinely sit out or resigning to immediately take a job somewhere else
I think it’s at least partly because during the earlier days of covid a lot of people moved back in with their parents, sold off cars, gave up healthcare and cable along with other long term reductions in living expenses. If you are confident you aren’t immediately going to starve and go homeless you can handle a lot of smaller day to day expenses with gig work, giving a strong point to negotiate in an entry level forever jobs market.
I quit my job in April of 2020 when they refused to shut down for covid when my state went into lockdown mode and actually made more money through unemployment monthly than I did working. Plus I moved back in with my mom due to health issues and she doesn’t make me pay rent, so right now I’m just slowly dwindling my savings while living off of ramen and potatoes.
what I don’t understand though is what are these other jobs they’re getting? I could quit my job tomorrow, but I’m not really in a position to do anything radically different than what I’m doing. I’d just end up in the same position I’m in now, albeit in a different location. With the amount of bullshit certifications and experience you need for like every job these days, how are people able to find jobs that are so much better than what they’re doing now?
When people have to tighten their belts for over a year, a lot figure out how to make it work and get used to it. They don’t like it, but they learn how to deal with it. So when some company comes along and offers shit conditions and shit pay, they know they can deal with it a bit longer.
A lot of people moved back in with family during the initial wave of Covid and don’t want to move out to work a shitty job. Or after 1.5 years they got something marginally more comfortable than service work, even if it still pays like $14/hr. Or older people just retired rather than go back to work and risk Covid.
