The Great Resignation wave of 2022 was driven by a variety of factors, including a tight labor market and wage increases that didn’t keep up with spiraling inflation. But there’s another catalyst at play that few in the media want to acknowledge – the growing exodus from the woke workplace.
In spite of high-profile layoffs at a handful of big-name companies, the labor market remains historically tight, as there are still approximately 1.7 job openings for every job seeker.
And, the latest consumer inflation numbers came in at 6.5% – down 0.1% from the previous month, and substantially lower than the peak of 9.1% in June of 2022. Inflation still outpaces wage growth, which has been steady at 5.2%. This means workers continue to lose real spending power every month. However, the two rates are much closer to parity than 6 months ago.
But even with the tight labor market and diminishing real wages, one of the primary drivers of the great resignation remains a “great rethinking.”
Remember that during the pandemic, huge numbers of employees reevaluated their work-life balance, moved out of left-leaning cities and states, opted for remote homes and jobs in more traditional communities, and in many cases, took pay cuts in order to enjoy a better quality of life. An overriding theme was the desire to escape the angry and demoralizing woke policies that have infiltrated many of America’s biggest workplaces.
We see this play out every day. That’s one reason we’ve grown into one of America’s largest connectors of job seekers and job creators. Many of our job seekers are longtime employees from established companies – employees who are tired of being told they have to conform to a political ideology, support activities that violate their faith, or even accept being passed over for promotion because they don’t fit a certain demographic.
For example, one job seeker is a former Microsoft executive who was told that the American flag on their online meeting background was too triggering to the rest of the team and therefore must be removed. Another employee described how their CEO would hold weekly meetings to remind employees that they were inherently evil because of the acts of previous generations.
Another job seeker is a nurse who worked exhaustingly long hours during the early stages of the pandemic and was hailed as a hero for helping save lives. But when she expressed to her supervisor concerns about taking the experimental COVID vaccine, she was immediately fired. And like them there are many more.
Who wouldn’t take advantage of the tight labor market to find new employment when they have been subjected to these hostile work environments?
The American dream is founded on our innovative free market economy, where hard work, diligence, and dedication are typically rewarded with career and financial growth. But, as many sectors of corporate America continue to manifest woke workplace policies hostile to traditional main street American values, more workers will be driven to seek alternatives.
We expect to see the Great Resignation continue into 2023 and beyond.
Andrew Crapuchettes, is the founder and CEO of RedBalloon, which was founded in 2021 as the solution to the ever-growing problem of government overreach and “cancel culture” invading the American workplace.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.