95 Micropreneurs 2.0

Micropreneurs 2.0

Americans are reassessing their work lives, driving an unprecedented wave of resignations and career pivots.

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 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.

Jake Kenyon decided to turn Kenyarn, his Providence, RI-based hand-dyedyarn side hustle, into a full-time career in January 2021, after quitting his job as a speech pathologist.

The pattern follows a nascent trend that first grew legs in the initial months of the pandemic in 2020, with workers quitting their desk jobs to pursue passion projects full-time. Now the trend has snowballed into a nationwide reassessment of work that is precipitating the next era of employment.

Why it’s interesting If 2020 had consumers reassessing their lives and values, 2022 and beyond will see them taking action to bring their work more in line with these values. Employees are scrutinizing what they want from a career and a workplace, potentially bringing about the “end of the workplace as we know it,” according to Business Insider.