WORK
THE FUTURE 100 211
Toward the end of 2021, a record number of Americans had left their jobs. In April that year, the number of workers who quit their jobs in a single month broke an all-time US record and the figure has climbed steadily since, with
more than 4.4 million American workers quitting in September alone. According to Microsoft’s global Work Trend Index, published in March 2021, 41% of
people around the world were likely to consider leaving their jobs within the next year, rising to 54% of gen Z. The Washington Post dubbed the shift the “great reassessment of work.”
So where are workers going? Many are leaving for higher-paying jobs, whether that’s retail and service workers taking entry-level positions or mid-career
Micropreneurs 2.0 Americans are reassessing their work lives, driving an unprecedented wave of resignations and career pivots.
professionals switching jobs. As of December 2020, resignations among
managers were 12% higher than the previous year, according to workforce analytics company Visier.
Others are pursuing passions or side hustles full-time. Microsoft’s research revealed that 46% of people were planning to make a major career pivot
or transition. And British workers are going freelance in droves. April 2021
data from freelancer platform PeoplePerHour found that almost one in five
freelancers had become self-employed as a side hustle alongside an employee
position, and nearly two-fifths of those began freelancing in the past 12 months.
