The Great Resignation is ending. Now what?

What's next for the labor market?

Man looks at job ads
(Image credit: ferrantraite / Getty Images)

After three years and plenty of staffing shortages, it seems the so-called Great Resignation is on its way out. The phenomenon first arose as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, when fatigued workers with cash to burn and time to think gave their employers an ultimatum: Show me you value me, or I'll find somewhere else that does. Suddenly, hobbies and side hustles became small businesses. Hospitality and service workers left their jobs for better-paying gigs or left the industry altogether. And the nation's employers were effectively run not by the people at the top but by the hard workers at the bottom. Now, however, staffers seem to be once again sticking around. So where's the labor market heading?

Why is the Great Resignation ending?

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Brigid Kennedy

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.